Ten months in Tours: Pause week adventures in Catalonia!

I'm a bit late writing this but I wanted a make a post about Pause week since it was such an amazing and memorable week. This term Emma is studying in Perpignan (South-West France) so we decided to take the opportunity to meet up and travel together. The train journeys were hideously long, 9h30 on the way there and 13h30 overnight on the way back, but made it affordable and were definitely worth a week in the sun and seeing Emma. The last hour or two of the train journey there I could see the terrain changing, and the countryside and buildings started to look more and more Spanish. It became a very scenic route, with picturesque mountains and lakes with wild flamingoes.

The first day Emma showed me around Perpignan, starting off with the castle, which is uphill and gives you a great view of the town and the countryside, and then to the Cathedral and around the town. Although I've visited a lot of castles and Cathedrals in the North now, this was a new experience as the architecture of the castle and the way that the Cathedral was decorated were very different to what I've seen around here. Again the Spanish influence can be seen as the castle is the old 'Palais des rois de Majorque'.

On the second day we took the 1 euro bus (!) about an hour out of Perpignan, to Collioure, which is a beautiful historic seaside town. It was pretty windy by the sea but we explored lots anyway. There's an enormous castle, most of which is open to the public to explore, dating from at least the 1200s although it changed and adapted over the centuries. It's empty now but still standing, and also gives you amazing views of the countryside. Collioure is truly a beautifully situated town and I must have taken about a million photos. Apart from walking along by the sea, we also went uphill to see a windmill, some cactuses, and, you guessed it, more views of the town and coast. Because it was Pancake Day we went and had pancakes at one of Emma's friends' flat, which was a lovely way to end my stay in Perpignan.

Given that Perpignan is so close to the Spanish border, we had the perfect excuse to take advantage of this and go across the border. We stopped in Girona first, which is about 40 mins from Perpignan by train and another very historic city, with a river cutting through the centre. Once you walk a short distance from the station you're into pretty old streets and squares, and an enormous Cathedral which is virtually built into the town. After a look around the Cathedral we went and sat in the sun and ordered tapas, which was one of those moments that makes me glad I decided to do a year abroad.

Mid-afternoon we took the train on to Barcelona, which is around another 40 minutes from Girona. Luckily for me Emma speaks Spanish and also took control of the directions etc. which made it pretty easy getting around. The hostel was very central which meant we only had to get the underground to get to and from the main station, and were able to walk every else.

Barcelona is a surprisingly affordable city. Some of the tourist attractions are a little pricey (mostly the Gaudi buildings), but the food and accommodation are noticeably cheaper than in France so we were able to stay for two nights and eat very well. We got through a lot in two and a half days, including walking along Las Ramblas, going to the beach, going to see some Gaudi buildings, eating lots of Spanish food, visiting the Cathedral and taking the lift up to the roof, going to see the Arc de Triomf, and of course the Sagrada Familia (another Gaudi creation).

Because of the location and the weather we were able to make it a pretty relaxed trip, although I enjoyed the sight-seeing some of the best parts were also things like buying fruit at the huge food market off Las Ramblas, and just sitting in the park (even if I did burn immediately). I would definitely recommend going to the Cathedral roof if you're in Barcelona, as it's only 3 euros and there's a lift that takes you all the way up. When we were up there we met a French family on their holidays and heard Hey Jude being played from the bells of a nearby building!

My first trip to Spain definitely lived up to my expectations, or maybe even surpassed them thinking about it. I would love to go back another time and see more of Spain. There were Catalan flags everywhere in Barcelona, and signs in both Spanish and Catalan (which are actually quite different but fairly similar to someone with virtually no knowledge of either). I loved the atmosphere and history of Barcelona and Girona, but I suppose the next step would be to explore outside of Catalan territory, maybe Madrid?