El Call de Girona: Narrow Streets with an Old Flavor


Girona, or Gerunda as it was first named by the Romans, was founded in the I century B.C. The most beautiful part of the city is the Call, being this a Catalan word to designate a middle age Jewish ghetto.

The origin of the Call, or ghettos, goes back to the the middle age, and they were a common feature in cities of Europe. Jewish communities were gathered together as a consequence of the intolerance by Christians against this religious group. The legality of the last one of those ghettos would be abolished during the XIX century. The most famous calls in Catalonia are the ones of Barcelona and Girona. El Call de Girona was formed around the XII century, and Jews were not allowed to live outside the ghetto or to make commerce. Even they were forced to brick the windows of the houses that had views outside the ghetto.

Nowadays, el Call de Girona is the best conserved of the middle age Jewish ghettos. Having a walk in such an old part of the city of Girona is beautiful. It has narrow streets that transports you some centuries back in time. Walking through the narrow streets you will finally end in the Cathedral of Girona, a Gothic style cathedral that has a beautiful staircase. The zone is full of nice cafes and restaurants, a good place to sit and relax.

The best way of entering the Call is by a bridge over the river Onyar. Houses of the street Ballesteries are build just by the river, and the bridge wild end in a building with an arch, you pass it and you are inside el Call… from there the best is just to walk around, no map needed, just follow the narrowest streets!

To find out more information you can visit the tourism web page of Girona (http://www.girona.cat/turisme/eng/activitats.php). It is a city that is easily accessible, nearby the city there is the airport in which operates mostly Ryanair. Although the airport is close to the city, most people who travels with Ryanair they do so to visit Barcelona so they will go from the airport directly to Barcelona by bus. But if you feel like discovering the old city of Girona it is worth to take a detour from the airport!

Note: Photos were taken with a LC-A loaded with Elitechrome 100 film and a Horizon camera loaded with Ektar 100 film. All of them were processed in a lab in Halifax (http://www.carsand.com/filmrelatedservices.html) and scans were made with an Epson perfection V700.

written by rater on 2009-12-15 in #world #locations #call #spain #catalonia #elitechrome-100 #city #cathedral #old #lc-a-rl #horizon #jewish-ghetto #gothic #girona #ghetto #middle-age #ektar-100


  1. stouf
    stouf ·

    Waaa ! So pretty ! And great effect of the horizon in these small stone streets ! My favourites are N°17 and 28. Superb !

  2. disdis
    disdis ·

    Todos los hombres del mundo, vengan de donde vengan tienen que pasar por Girona! Es una de mis ciudades favoritas... quizás porque me recuerda bastante a Vitoria....

  3. disdis
    disdis ·

    Por cierto, las horizon... geniales! Nunca había pensado en el uso de esa cámara en lugares tan estrechos, la 10 es genial

  4. fancholland2
    fancholland2 ·

    Nice location! Horizon shots are great!

  5. jnetnjoey
    jnetnjoey ·

    The panoramic camera really did some magic on those scenes. A wonderful location capture!

  6. tveden
    tveden ·

    Those horizons are sublime.

  7. rater
    rater ·

    Thanks for the comments!!

    @disdis: Girona es preciosa y la 10 es tambien una de mis preferidas!

  8. disdis
    disdis ·

    Lomographer Was Here

  9. larahacefotos
    larahacefotos ·

    qué fotos tan bonitas! enhorabuena. el artículo también me ha gustado mucho. hace poco yo también escribí un artículo de girona www.lomography.com/magazine/locations/2010/11/10/girona

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