Pyrenees are one of the most magical borders in this planet. They are a natural barrier separating France and Spain and host a warm country: Andorra. In Pyrenees, every corner is a spectacle full of nature and tradition.
But if we move some kilometers around Pyrenees, we will be able to identify all this charm in cities that get together the best of both Spanish and French cultures. This way, with a train tickets between France and Spain we can go across two worlds placed among mountains. What can we see and enjoy on both sides of Pyrenees?
Carcassone
This village is located in the South of France and it is an essential visit of every trip through the area. Its medieval citadel is famous all around the world because its level of preservation is great, with no print of the pass of time. The citadel is placed on the top of a hill that was the watch and guard point of the village.
If we can choose the date of the visit, July is the best month to visit the capital of Aude department. The prestigious Medieval Festivaltakes place during this summer month. The Cité (citadel) shows all its charm and its amphitheater holds more than 250 outdoors plays and concerts.
In fact, every date of the year is great to enjoy of other plans such as a stroll through the new city, where we can taste the wines and the excellent gastronomy from Languedoc-Roussillon, or the astonishing Canal du Midi: a wonderful engineering work that joins together Toulouse with Mediterranean Sea through an artificial canal.
Figueres
On the other side of Pyrenees, being these wonderful mountains always as scenario, we find the monumental city of Figueres.
The capital of Alto Ampurdán is well known for being Dalí’s place of birth. In fact, we can find there an astonishing museum that will make us feel the surrealism of this genius who become in a myth.
But the famous Catalan painter is not the only attraction of this beautiful city: San Fernando’s castle is the one with the biggest area of Europe, its Rambla which is always full of life, Toy Museum and numerous theaters surrounded by streets with stone pavement. All these attractions are waiting for us just some minutes away from the coast.
Narbonne
We travel again across the Pyrenean boarder to get into Aude department. There we will find the city with the biggest population of this region, which is probably the most monumental too: Narbonne.
Next to a split of Canal du Midi called Canal de la Robine, we find jewels such as its unfinished cathedral (even so, it is the third higher if the city), the old and Roman VíaDomicia, Les Halles market with its Parisian style, Archbishops Palace and Roman Horreum.
Girona
We finish this trip through both sides of Pyrenees coming back to the Spanish side, where we find the capital of the region worldly known by Costa Brava.
In Girona we will enjoy of a truly watchtower city. From there, we are able tosee not only the group of mountains that inspired our trip, but also hills and fieldsthat, little by little, lead into the sea.
Into this breath-taking viewpoint, we discover the biggest one-nave cathedral in the world (on the top of a huge stairway that proves its majesty), a Jewish neighborhood full of charming streets, Oñar river with its monumental bridges (one of them was designed by the famous Gustave Eiffel) and a wall to walk through its different paths while we decide the tavern where we will enjoy the delicious gastronomy of the area.