Girona: The hidden treasure city that was the setting for 'Game of Thrones'

The sign says it clearly: "Kissing the lioness's ass is prohibited." The boy currently climbing the column like a monkey may not have read it or not care. It's a replica of the original lioness, made of stone, from the 12th century, and located in the Art Museum. For decades, it was a tourist ritual upon returning to the city ; there was even a small staircase, but after several falls and the death of a tourist, the ladder was removed and the custom was closed.

100 kilometers from Barcelona, Girona, home to more than 100,000 people and a modern city center, is ancient: two thousand years old, according to the guide.

The Oñar River (Onyar in Catalan) is right there. We're heading toward the section of medieval walls, dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, but because of the rain, we take shelter in the Santa María de Girona Cathedral. Before arriving, we'll pass through the medieval section to La Força Vella, the Catalan name that identifies the area built from the founding of Girona until the year 1000.

Girona bears traces of the Iberian era, who lived on the Iberian Peninsula's coastal area more than 2,000 years ago. But its origins were Roman and it was called Gerunda . Later, it was conquered by Muslims until Charlemagne forced them to retreat. These powers left their mark on the historic center, which also boasts one of the best-preserved Jewish quarters in Europe: the Call.

We are now in front of the cathedral, facing three flights of stairs totaling 90 steps. During the Fira de Girona, the city's festival, human towers are built and climbed this way, tall and close together, to the church entrance. They are called els castells (the castles) and were established in 1700. They are distinctly Catalan and can reach between six and ten stories, with over a hundred people participating. Since 2010, the castells have been declared an Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Those in Girona are known for being extremely difficult and are climbed on October 29th, the Feast of Saint Narcissus, the city's hero.

After climbing the stairs, we took shelter from the rain in the cathedral, which is built on a Roman temple that, when the city became Christian, was used as a church. The passage of time is evident in the styles: the cloister with Romanesque capitals and the Gothic nave—without columns —the widest in the world after St. Peter's. Wandering through the city with curiosity and a keen eye is a master class in history and architecture.

Perhaps more striking than the extra-wide Gothic nave is the Creation Tapestry, an anonymous 11th-century work that hangs in the Cathedral Museum. It's a large embroidery—3.65 m by 4.67 m—with biblical scenes, allegories, symbols, light and darkness, strange animals of the sky and sea, and the measurements of time. Where it was made, how it came to Girona, what it was used for—these are rhetorical questions that arise when contemplating a thousand-year-old fabric about which very little is known.

Due to its strategic location, close to the border of the Carolingian Empire and the outcome of the European wars, Girona was subject to sieges and attacks until the 18th century. Saint Narcissus was a bishop of Girona who, unwittingly and despite being dead, freed it from the French troops under the command of Philip III in 1285. According to legend, when the soldiers tried to desecrate his tomb, swarms of flies emerged from inside, driving them away and forcing them to flee.

Over time, the event became known as the Miracle of the Flies, which earned them a prestigious place in history until they became the symbol of the city. There are flies in sculptures and fly stencils on the walls, and fly keychains are sold in souvenir shops. And Sisa—a diminutive of Narcisa—is the mascot of Girona Football Club: a fly that promises to defend them, this time, from their rivals. She was chosen a few years ago by a vote among the club's members, and the fly easily won, even over the famous lioness.

Girona's historic center is so well preserved that it was chosen as the filming location (in 2015) for several scenes from the sixth season of Game of Thrones (it appears in eight of the ten episodes). Fans will recognize the Arab baths—which have their name and decor from the Moorish period, but were always Christian—where Arya enters the baths of Braavos, and the Plaza dels Jurats, where Arya sees the theater of her family's misfortunes. Also, the steps of Sant Domènec, the cathedral, and its surroundings are part of the Great Sept of Baelor in Kings Landing, as well as Saint Peter of Galligants, among seven locations; and yes, there are guided tours that cover them.

The Jewish History Museum, which occupies the site of a former synagogue, presents a history of the Jewish people's arrival and settlement in Girona, beginning with the arrival of 25 families in the 9th century. Gradually, they comprised 10% of the population and had their own neighborhood, the Jewish quarter, known as the Call (which may come from the Latin callis, "street," or the Hebrew kahal, "community" or "assembly").

We wander through the narrow streets that once housed workshops, businesses, and temples, and where, perhaps, Moshe ben Nachman, known as "Nahmanides" or "the Master of Girona," a theologian and physician, and the poet and philosopher Salomon ben Meshullam de Piera, among other intellectuals of the time, may have walked. For centuries, the Jewish communities of Catalonia played an important role in the cultural development of Spain. The end of the story is familiar: with the aim of imposing Christianity, in 1492, the Jews were expelled from Castile and Aragon. Those who did not go into exile had to convert.

In the old town—the medieval city and La Força Vella—I feel like I'm in a village, but later we'll see the modern, multiethnic city of today. Now we walk down Rambla de la Libertad and imagine what the markets must have been like, sheltered behind these low arches, in medieval times. Today it's an area of shops and restaurants, including Can Roca, owned by the three Roca brothers, who also own La Masía—where it's not easy to get a reservation—and Rocambolesc, an ice cream parlor and a bikineria (a restaurant that sells toasted sandwiches, "bikinis" in Catalan).

We approach the Oñar River again to cross the city's most famous bridge, designed by Eiffel in 1877 and costing 22,500 pesetas: the Pont de les Peixateries Velles, or Old Fishmongers' Bridge, because it was the area where fish was sold. It is also called the Red Fishmongers' Bridge, due to the red iron bars that weave a diamond-shaped pattern. On the other side, the 19th-century Plaza Independencia (which must have been "new" for Girona's age) houses bars and restaurants under arcades and in front of ginkgo trees.

The visit to Girona ends when the storm clears. The dark clouds are blown away, leaving a yellow light that suits the medieval stone so well . We return to the wall that the rain prevented us from seeing earlier. We climb a steep flight of steps to reach a height of 60 meters. We exhale. And it was true: up here are the best views of the city. The perspective also changes as we walk. Although it dates back to the 9th century, the wall was rebuilt and reinforced several times in the 14th. A thick cloud settles over the bell tower of Sant Félix. I can make out the Call and, in the background, the dehesa, the main park, a huge green bush.

At almost three kilometers long, it's one of the longest walls in Europe. It crisscrosses gardens, and occasionally there's a spiral staircase leading to the tower, where you can admire from above a dome, solitary cypress trees like soldiers, the river, a tower, and the different angles of this city that needs no rituals to make you want to return.