Last September, Catalunya celebrated la Diada de Catalunya, the national day of Catalunya.
This day commemorates the defeat of Catalonia during the War of the Spanish Succession. The Catalan troops that supported the Habsburg’s claim to the Spanish throne were defeated at the Siege of Barcelona by the army of Philip V of Spain (a Bourbon king). As a result, the Catalans lost their constitutions. That was on 11 September 1714. Suppressed by Franco in 1939, the Diada has been reinstated in 1980 and since then the 11th of September is a bank holiday. This year as a result, we had a 3-day bank holiday.
I can’t let that opportunity go, I have to go somewhere…So after some researches, it revealed to me that most interesting places in Catalunya require a car. Ah… difficult when you don’t have a valid driving license. So I looked up for a place easy to reach from Barcelona and picked Vic. One of my colleagues was often talking about this town and without knowing anything about it, I decided that we will go and will spend our Diada week end over there. That is what I like about my life: to be able to just go on adventure.
You can reach Vic with the Rodalies train from Plaça de Catalunya. There is a regular train all day long and the trip lasts 1h20 more or less. There is a timetable accessible here. If I recall well, round trip ticket is 12.5 Euros. So pretty cheap and not far! As it was a bit of a short notice, only the Hotel J. Balmes, Carrer Francesc Pla, 6, Vic had a room. And we had the last one available. It is a bit out of the town but still within walking distance. The good part is that it is close the Anella verde, the walking path that goes around the town.
Once arrived in Vic, we dropped our bags in our room. Then had lunch in the restaurant close to the hotel but it was not amazing. Funny anecdote, desserts were “homemade”. “Homemade” indeed they were. We saw the waitress taking the box out of the freezer and cutting the ice cream to put it in glasses. I can make that kind of homemade dessert too :). After lunch, we headed to town but we did not stay very long as it started raining. When the rain stopped, we went out again for a walk in the countryside around the hotel and walked a part of the Anella verde as mentioned above. It is a nice countryside with cow farms and ricks and it is really quiet… We spent the evening in the hotel to relax.
On D2, we had breakfast in town at the terrace of La Plaça on Plaça Mayor for a traditional Spanish breakfast: churros con chocolate, two ham torradas, orange juice and tea. Well, for me that is traditional spanish breakfast… Once our breakie over, we visited the market on Plaça Mayor that is happening every Saturday. We were really impressed by the array of mushrooms that were sold in the market. I have not seen some of them before. Alas, we cannot bring them home to try. Too delicate and we were not back to Barcelona before another day! While checking activities to do in Vic, I saw that there is a Medieval market in Vic in December. That could be interesting!
Our next stop was Vic’s tourist office to get the map with the walking paths. I usually am a big fan on doing my own research and do what I want but the tourist office in the case of Vic had been very useful. We chose the walk going to the Pont d’en Bruguer (En Bruguer Bridge), an easy walk, 5.1km. It starts at the Parque de Xavier Roca y Viñas. It is not easy to spot the beginning of the walk but there are indications. You just need to be attentive or else talk to the by-walkers. It is a very nice stroll following the river Gurri. It is also possible to observe life on the river with ducks, crayfish…yeah crayfish…I promise I saw one.
Then there are two points of interest on this walk or should I say two “ponts” of interest hahaha!!!! Indeed, it is possible to see on the way, an iron bridge, the puente del Ferro built in 1930 and the En Bruguer bridge, a gothic bridge from the 14th century. And guess where this way leads to? To the part of the Anella Verde close to our hotel….Great! We have a light picnic with things we bought in the supermarket also close to the hotel. The weather was perfect for that. The surroundings also.
For dinner, we went to a Spanish caterer to try escalivada and other Spanish delicacies. We also got some longanissa de Vic and I fully recommend you taste it because it is very nice and you can tell that it is a product of quality. I can understand why they are so proud of it.
On D3, we went back to town to follow the touristic circuit of the city. I would have gone for breakie to Barmutet had I found it earlier on. The place looks lovely and the menu interesting. That was just a parenthesis. You can actually see slabs everywhere showing “ruta turistica”. This circuit links 30 places of interest inside Vic and can be done within one hour. You would not think that such a small city can actually harbor so many architectural gems and historic places. My favourite is the Casa Bayes.
We had our sunday lunch afterwards in Divicnus as our first choices: Okashi, El Jardinet, Magda Subirana were closed. The place is elegant, chic and immaculate. So chic that we got intimidated entering. We chose a table at the terrace. The food was just alright though. My cannelloni were nice but my duck was undercooked. They did not ask me how I wanted it. So given the overall food experience, I won’t recommend a lunch there. In addition, the service was so-so. So really try somewhere else.
I think Vic is an amazing place. I did not expect much going there but had a lot of fun exploring the town, trying out dishes and walking in the nature. Vic is also a good base to discover the Osona region I think. Next time, I will visit the forests and natural parcs around. It looks magnificent. Hopefully by then I will have my driving license!
Our itinerary: Alrededores del río Gurri – Puente d’en Bruguer
Vic’s tourist office: http://www.victurisme.cat/