Banyoles Banyoles Banyoles () is a city of 17,309 inhabitants (2006) located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. The town is the capital of the Catalan "comarca" "Pla de l'Estany". Although an established industrial centre many of the inhabitants commute to nearby Girona (12 km to the south). Banyoles is most famous for the Lake of Banyoles, a natural lake located in a tectonic depression. It was the venue for the rowing events in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as well as the "negro of Banyoles", a controversial piece of taxidermy. With a superb natural environment for the practice
Lake of Banyoles kn further south, was formerly the largest lake in the area until it was drained in 1851. There are both native and introduced fish species in the lake, like carp, "gardí", "bavosa de riu", sunfish, tench, black bass and eel. It is known that other fishes like pike, bullhead catfish ("peix gat") and goldfish were introduced in the 19th century, but no specimens of those species have been found in recent surveys in the lake. This lake became famous as the rowing location for the Barcelona Olympics 1992 and the World Rowing Championships in 2004. It is also a popular