Girona Cathedral Pass

Girona's cathedral sits at the top of ninety stone steps and dominates the skyline of the old quarter. Behind its Baroque facade is a Gothic nave measuring about twenty-three metres across, the widest of its kind anywhere, and a Romanesque cloister whose carved capitals and Torre de Carlemany give the complex its medieval weight. The treasury holds two of the great objects of Catalan art: the Tapestry of the Creation, an embroidered Romanesque panel of extraordinary age and scale, and the illuminated Beatus manuscript from the tenth century. This pass bundles the cathedral with the Basilica of Sant Feliu, whose leaning Gothic tower is the other half of the skyline, and the Girona Art Museum in the former bishop's palace. Together they cover a thousand years of Catalan art and architecture inside a few hundred metres, which makes the pass the single most efficient first purchase on any Girona trip.

Start at the foot of the cathedral stairs rather than at the entrance. The steps were laid out in the eighteenth century to give the Gothic church a theatrical Baroque face, and from the plaza at the bottom you see why the building is the symbol of the city. Inside, the nave is what stops people: a single span, with no aisles, built after Catalan masters debated for decades whether such a width could stand.

It does, and the effect is of a great hall of light rather than a forest of columns. Walk to the apse and the altar with its silver-and-enamel retable, then take the audio guide or your own time through the cloister, where the Romanesque capitals tell biblical and everyday scenes in stone and the Charlemagne tower rises behind the arcades.

The treasury is the part you should not skip. The Tapestry of the Creation, usually dated to the eleventh or twelfth century, is displayed in a dedicated room and tells the story of Genesis in a large circular composition of wool embroidery. Beside it you will find the Beatus of Girona, a tenth-century commentary on the Apocalypse that is among the most beautiful illustrated manuscripts in Spain.

Copies are sometimes shown when the original rests, so treat it as a bonus rather than a promise. From there the Basilica of Sant Feliu is a five-minute walk downhill. It holds the tombs of the city's patron saint and carries a Gothic spire visible from every bridge on the Onyar. Early Christian sarcophagi line the interior and give the church a rare layering from the Roman period through the Baroque.

Finish at the Girona Art Museum, housed in the old episcopal palace beside the cathedral. Its collection covers Romanesque and Gothic painting, altarpieces and sculpture from across the diocese, and the building itself, with its stairwell and medieval rooms, is part of the draw. Allow about three hours for the three stops if you want to read as well as look. Go early on a weekday in high season, because tour groups gather at the cathedral steps from late morning.

Opening hours and Sunday patterns differ between the three sites, and the cathedral can close to visitors for services, so check the schedule on the day you plan to go. Dress modestly for the churches, wear shoes that cope with worn stone, and keep the pass handy because staff check it at each entrance.