Two Ex-Pats in Girona, Catalonia
words + photos by Elyn Aviva
“I can’t believe we live here!” I said to Gary as I stared in fascination at the multicolored reflections dancing over the rippling surface of the Onyar River.
;)
River OnyarHe squeezed my hand and leaned over the railing of the stone bridge. Ducks floated by, luminous in the evening light. “I know just what you mean,” he replied. “Who’d have thought that what started off as a whim would end up being such an adventure?”
I nodded, admiring how the brightly lit cathedral spires were silhouetted against the velvet black sky. I sighed, contentedly. Then, hand in hand, Gary and I strolled across the medieval bridge that divides one part of Girona from the other. We walked down the Rambla and sat down at a sidewalk café. We ordered a cortado, a fragrant cup of espresso laced with a touch of milk, and an artisan beer. We looked at each other and grinned. Ah, what a life.
Just two years earlier Gary and I had been pondering what to do next with our lives. We knew we enjoyed traveling in Europe and wanted to do more of it with less hassle. Why not move to Europe for a few years, I suggested. We weren’t getting any younger. We had good health, enough money, a love of adventure, and much to be grateful for. If not now, when? Gary agreed, and we began making plans to move to Spain, a country we had lived in briefly once before.
Five months later we returned to Sahagún, a small town (population 2500) in north-central Spain. It was easy to establish ourselves there since we had friends and “family” from our previous stay. It was convenient (on the train lines to everywhere, so we didn’t need a car) and inexpensive. Easy, convenient, and boring. After a year of spending more time traveling than in Sahagún, we realized it was time to find somewhere else to live.
We made a list of what we wanted in a place: organic grocery stores, convenient computer repair and service, a good farmers’ market, bookstores, easy access by train to places we want to visit, lively folkloric events, museums, diverse cultural activities (some in English), some English-speaking resources—and a certain “je ne sais quoi”—an indescribable attractiveness.
;)
Girona, a medieval city in Catalonia, immediately came to mind. We’d stayed there once briefly and we’d been charmed. Five bridges (one designed by M. Eiffel) cross from the Barri Vell (Old Town) to the barely newer new town on the other side of the river. Narrow winding streets, arcaded passageways, stunning churches, numerous museums, a Roman road running through the center of what remains of the medieval Jewish neighborhood, a city of 90,000 people, including some who speak English—definitely, our kind of town.
I went on-line and found an apartment for short-term rental in the Barri Vell, just across from the Museum of the Jews in Catalonia. After several phone conversations (in English, more or less) with the proprietor, we arrived in Girona for a one-month trial sojourn. I checked out several local blogs and made contact with Jack, an American-Englishman who offered to show us around. The “Your Life Is A Trip” adventure gods were smiling on us.
Our apartment, we discovered, wasn’t just any apartment: it was a newly renovated apartment in a sixteenth-century building constructed over a medieval building built over a still-older building on the Calle de la Força, the original Roman road that led from France through Girona and further south into Catalonia. We entered through a large stone arch into an interior atrium, complete with the original well that had provided water for the building’s inhabitants throughout the centuries. Our apartment had twin arched windows left over from the previous (sixteenth-century) reconstruction and an equally old interior stone wall. We were literally inhaling history.
Within days of arriving in Girona, we knew we were going to move there. The Old Town was saturated with atmosphere—and not just from 1000 years ago. One morning while shopping at the outdoors market we heard a loud, rhythmic thump-thump-thump approaching from the far end of the street. A dozen young people in identical costumes were marching down the street striking large drums and playing a haunting instrument that sounded like a distant cousin of the oboe. Following behind were eight dancing folkloric peasants with huge paper-mâche heads on their shoulders (cabezudos). And behind them, four giant royal figures over twelve feet tall—gigantes—in embroidered velvet robes swayed majestically down the street. What was the occasion, we asked bystanders. They shrugged. Some local celebration. There are too many to remember.
Kiosks fluttered with flyers describing upcoming music and theater events, some in English. Gary checked out the local Apple store and approved. We went with Jack for a hike in the nearby foothills—a short walk out of town. Soon we were sharing the trails with native Gironines who were on the look-out for wild asparagus. Later, Jack told us, they’d be hunting for mushrooms and we’d be able to buy them in the market. We checked out the local medical system (Gary tripped and needed emergency care) and found it excellent. We went on day trips to medieval towns in the Pyrenees, to Greek and Roman ruins, to charming seaside villages. We found favorite restaurants that offered affordable lunch-time specials and became friendly with shopkeepers. We made Catalan acquaintances—a neighbor even invited us in for tea.
;)
We’d found our new home. Well, almost. We still needed to find an apartment for the long term—which meant at least a year. Through a series of fortuitous events, we met a wonderful realtor, and she and her husband not only found us an apartment but also soon become good friends.
We returned to Sahagún, packed up our few belongings, put them in a rental van, and moved to Girona.
A year has passed. We continue to be enthralled with Girona. Living in a foreign country is not for the meek or timid—nor is it for the impatient and inflexible. We’ve learned to watch where we step to avoid the ubiquitous dog-poo (they do not have laws about picking the stuff up). We’ve learned that if we accomplish one or two tasks in a day we consider ourselves fortunate (a shop may or may not be open; the person in charge may or may not be available; the equipment might or might not be working). We’ve learned that we can’t buy everything we’re used to and that there are many fewer choices—but that that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s a good thing.
And we’ve learned that speaking a foreign language and negotiating a foreign culture are both more challenging and more rewarding than we could ever have imagined. They say that the best way to keep an aging mind agile is to challenge it with new tasks. Well, we do that every day. It’s unavoidable.
Do we plan to return “home”? We are home. At least, for the near future.
Sorry—I have to go now. I just got a text-message from our Catalan friends to meet them at the local Irish bar and have a Guinness….
Elyn Aviva is a writer, fiber artist, and transformational traveler. Currently living in Girona (Catalonia), Spain, she is fascinated by pilgrimage and sacred sites. Her PhD in anthropology was on the modern Camino de Santiago in Spain. Aviva is author of a number of books on pilgrimage and journey, and she is co-author with her husband, Gary White, of “Powerful Places Guidebooks”; the most recent one is Powerful Places in Brittany. To learn more about Elyn or her publications, go to www.pilgrimsprocess.com, www.powerfulplaces.com and www.fiberalchemy.com
12 Comments
Reader Comments (12)
Oh what a Life!
You have given me an inside view of what life is like living in Spain and outside of the U. S.
The challenges you face immediately melt away with a telephone call to meet friends for a Guiness.
Life seems more simple in many ways.
The travel is inspiring! Adventure is yours every day.
So many questions come to mind...I will save them for another time.
Hopefully in the near future.
Friends I met in 1999, Ano Jubileo, are calling...
Calling to meet in Barcelona.
I love the art there and the freedom the artists had in expressing themselves in Barcelona.
May our Paths cross again in the future.
For now, I will be off to the Pilgrim's Gathering in Santa Barbara soon.
I am looking forward to seeing fellow Peregrinos once more.
For me, outside of Santa Fe, this is the best location for a Spiritual Gathering.
And Life goes on.
Louisa
P. S. So good to see you enjoying yourselves in outside friendly colorful places.
I always marvel at how easy it is to meet people and form friendships outside of the country.
Dear Elyn and Gary,
Loved reading your story. Girona sounds absolutely fabulous! You are both such and inspiration. Girona will definitely be on my future travel wish list. Especially given the beautiful people that live there!
Our pilgrimage guiding work with Illuminated Journeys continues to expand. Brad will be leading “Sacred Scandinavia” May 20 to 30 for a group of UCC architects looking at Architecture as sacred text. We will both be in Ireland then in September and Spain in October! In the midst-- Brad is also working for a large conference in Puerto Rico in June. So we have much incentive to keep practicing our Spanish! Check of www.illuminatedjourneys.com if you want to get more detail!
My psychotherapy and teaching work at Iliff School of Theology and Naropa University is still going very well! I have a website now at www.ritaberglund.com which has been fun creative endeavor. I love being a therapist and feel such a sacred privilege to walk beside so many amazing human beings.
I recently had a student create dolls to express various aspects of her inner child. It made me think of you and wonder if you are still doll making in addition to all your writing?
Brad and I are beginning to feel a longing to write about our 24 year pilgrimage with Brandon. We continue to miss him deeply and are wanting to be skillful in integrating all we learned together as a family. Brianna is now thriving as a 4th grade teacher while her husband is now a student at lliff on track to getting a PhD and becoming a teacher as well. We are so grateful to have them living close by for these years.
I do send my love and joy in all your aliveness!
May your journeys continue to be a rich river of blessings,
Rita Berglund
Such wonderful comments from dear old friends! Yes, Louisa, the problems melt away with good friends! Blessings on the Camino and all the pilgrims and pilgrimages that we make. Would love to see you--Barcelona is only 1 hr 15 min. south of Girona by train, and trains run hourly.
Rita--thanks for the updates! Surely our paths will cross when you and Brad are in Spain? How well I remember our synchronistic encounter on top of Maeve's Cairn in Co. Sligo, Ireland, in --could it be--2007?--in the midst of one of your Ireland pilgrimage journeys. So many pilgrimages, so many journeys. Life is indeed a pilgrimage--and a trip! I think of you and yours often.
As to the dolls--I haven't made any since leaving the US, but I'm gearing up to do more. You can see them on www.fiberalchemy.com. I've been asked to have several gallery shows here in Catalonia, so I think the ones that haven't sold will soon be winging their way to me in Girona.
Many blessings, Dear Friends--
Elyn
Dear Elyn and Gary,
It is so good to hear that you are loving your life in Girona! It sounds like an absolutely delightful place, and your descriptions are so vivid and poetic!
Love,
Marie
Hi Marie--from one ex-pat to another, hmm? I'm sure you have stories to tell as well!
I just noticed that some of our friends in Girona weren't fully identified. Joaquim and Cristina, our realtor friends, run Eix, a Girona real estate company. And Jack Sagel can be found at DiscoverGirona and WineWalks.net.
Elyn, I am delighted by your words and continued experiences of discovery, joy and connection in Girona. It still calls to me.
I have been in San Miguel de Allende for 6 weeks now and can hardly believe all the Serendipity, opportunities and new friends that fill my days, which seem to fly by here in the land of Mother Time. Having been in Santa Fe 10 years, I lost or, perhaps, never created the sense of connection there that I've found here. Or rather, being here has focused my priorities and sense of self and work in the world in a totally new way. I think radical change of place can do that, if and when we're ready.
Due to a last-minute faculty cancellation, I ended up presenting about self-publishing at the San Miguel Writers' Conference (which I wrote about: http://www.inhabityourdreams.com/2011/02/san-miguel-writers-conference/) and have picked up some relationship and business coaching clients, which whom I will engage via Skype. In 2 weeks I'll return to Santa Fe with clarity and energy to pursue writing and coaching... with the intention of creating a base from which I can fling myself into my dream of living, like you and Gary, for some time in Spain.
Thank you for continuing to be such a great inspiration!
Abrazos,
Aysha
Dear Gary and Elyn,
Enjoyed reading your story sounds very nice and I'm glad your enjoying your life. You both look good. All is well here. Ella
What an adventure your lives have embraced. I wondered recently if you wake up each day and think, "We live in Spain!" or if it is just what your normal life is now. The opening paragraph of this article suggests that you continue to be very present, and aware of what each day brings.
Your acceptance of the things you can't control - dog poo, getting a bit less accomplished each day - simpler offerings to choose from - is, I imagine, key to your thriving in a new culture. I am so pleased that you are enjoying the ride!
Laura
Hi, Laura! So far, at least, we are still present to the beauty around us! Haven't gotten used to the pleasure of it all. And now we live in a new, top-floor apartment (just moved at the end of last month) with a terrace and a view of the river Onyar, the city walls, the cathedral lit at night, the sky, the stars.... It's wonderful!
Hi Gary, Hi Elyn,
My adventures in Hawaii have been a mirror of yours with a different tint.
There's nothing like making a cultural move to both humble and strengthen at the same time.
Aloha,
Joey
Hey Dear Elyn and Gary,
Lovely to visualize you enjoying life there! And fun to read about it. Seems like such a great fit. Hope to visit you one day again...
Big love,
Anne