Daytrip to Banyoles and Besalú in La Garrotxa

These places are beautiful in the autumn , I really recommend to visit them if you have a free day! The quickest option to get to Banyoles or Besalú by bus, is with the Teisa company. They have their bus stop near Plaza Catalunya, on Carrer de Pau Claris 117, also there is the ticket office but it is written on it " Garrotxa Express" instead of Teisa. The ticket from Barcelona to Besalu through Banyoles is quite expensive for what it is, almost 25 euros for a return ticket , but the journey takes only one and a half hour like this. You can also go by train to Girona and from there by bus, but like that you would only save around 4 euros and the journey would take more than 2 hours each way. If you like cycling you can also take your bike, cause there are plenty of bike ways around that area. Originally we wanted to go to Banyoles by bus then walk to Besalú and come back to Barcelona from there by bus, but finally we ended up taking the bus to Besalú from Banyoles , cause there wasn't any signed paths to walk there at all. At the local Tourist information office in Banyoles they have a map about the footpaths of the area , but none of them is too long, so the longest is 2 hours if you are very slow. We choose the path around the lake of course, which took one and a half hours and it is very smooth. If it would have been a bit warmer we would loved to jump in the lake cause it looks soo clean and inviting, but unfortunately it was a cool october day. The walk is really nice and romantic, absolutely ideal for a picnic, the landscape is beautiful. The old town of Banyoles is medieval and beautiful as well. Besalú is a typical picturesque medieval village by a small river….just like from a postcard. There are more hiking ways go through Besalú, you can check it here: http://en.itinerannia.net/route-planner/. There is also short path by the river with some picnic areas and playgrounds. You can see it on the pictures it is very nice and romantic as well but i think is is absolutely enough to spend here 2 hours maximum, and walk out from town to the mountains. The Camino de Santiago also goes through this little village, although it is not very popular to do it from this route. There is also a mediveal jewish bath a synagogue, for further details you can check out the website of Besalú.

The Estany lake in Banyoles

Path around the Estany

Besalú

Vic : tuesday market, official tourist walk, and a stop in Figaro on the way back

It takes 1h20' to get to Vic , and the return ticket costs 10,40 euros from Plaza Catalunya. The second part of the train route is really nice, goes between green hills , next to small rivers and wild flower fields, although the first half in the Valles area was not to friendly, it is quite industrial and overpacked with newly build blocks. Every tuesday and sturdy there is a market on Vic's Plaza Mayor. The square is really pretty, with a medieval atmosphere , especially that the square itself is not covered with tiles or stones or concrete, instead it is covered with gravel.The market is just like the typical general weekly markets around Barcelona: lot of chinese stuff, some second hand clothes for 1 euro each, cheap cosmetics, big variety of potted plants, good looking and delicious vegetables. Luckily the tourist information office was open so i could get a map of the city, and also many useful information and guides about walking paths around the city, one of those goes to the Monastery of Sant Pere de Casserres , and it looks really pretty on the photos, so i would really like to walk there soon, it is just a 19km walk back and forth.There is a nice little "touristic route" in Vic, which drives you around the old town , carefully , so you stay only on the very pretty old streets and got to see all the classical sights the town can offer. The river with the old bridge is pretty although the other side of the river and all the other bridges are newly build uninteresting grey things. There is a real roman church on the way as well which i found quite impressive, there was a local flower-painter's exhibition in the church, so from the inside it didn't look like a roman church at all. The whole walk can be done in an hour, and it drives you back to the Plaza Mayor, from there the train station is just 5 minutes walk.

Thursday market in Sant Cugat de Valles

It takes around half an hour to get to Sant Cugat with the Ferrocariles de La Generalitat from Plaza Catalunya. It is quite a nice trip on the train as it crosses some forest areas around Barcelona , with some nice flowery trees, not crowded with industrial buildings like other suburb areas of Barcelona. I will wander around in other villages by this train line later , cause they look nice. Sant Cugat is a pretty little town,at least the center of it is. There is calm countryside atmosphere in the air, but you find surprisingly fancy shops on the main streets, even an Apple store , which you won't find in Barcelona. The market is quite big there are only a few second hand clothes seller, but many new clothes, kitchen utensils, house textile stands.The market is on some nice streets and around the medieval monastery.It is a really nice atmosphere, but the only thing i thought was better to buy than in Barcelona ware plants, there are many plant sellers, with big variety , and good quality plants, usually for cheaper than on the city.Also the second hand clothes were quite cheap and was possible to find some nice things for a few euros.Before i only heard people going to work to Sant Cugat, so i imagined some industrial, computer designed, boring, grey town, but it was a very positive disappointment after all!
return FGC ticket : 5,40 eur travel time: 30 min each ways