Ok, the spelling and pronunciation may be different but Banyoles was calling to John.
The town’s claim to fame, is the lake which hosted the rowing events during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 2004 Rowing World Championships.
Set in the Girona Pyrenees, the backdrop to the lake is fairly spectacular and the water crystal clear.
We drove round the lake and it looks like a great place for walking and cycling. We visited the Tourist Information office had a short walk into town before the drive back. We were surprised to see wide channels alongside the roads in the town which were filled with clear, still water. It would be amazing if our mill stream looked the same!. A lot of the worlds top cyclists live in the area, as it’s a dry climate with lots of hills for training.
Although Banyoles is very nice it doesn’t have quite the same call as our beloved Bagnoles.
During lunch we were talking to an eclectic mix of people in a Tapas bar including an English lady, a Scandinavian and an American lady who have lived in a valley near Perpignan in the South of France for many years. Apparently there is a thriving Ex-Pat community in the area, but rather than being English it’s a mixture of different nationals brought together by the local U3A group
We’ve really struggled with the language while we’ve been here. The Spanish Dictionary has been no match for Catalan. If anyone can tell us what ‘peu’ is and translate this sign, we’d be grateful
We didn’t make it into Girona which was a shame, we were only a couple of miles away, but a final afternoon on the beach was calling to us.
braysabroad 