The Catalonia Call Route: Girona and Barcelona

The Call in Girona escaped much of the later demolition that erased Jewish quarters elsewhere in Spain, leaving a dense network of stairs, courtyards and the Bonastruc ça Porta centre, built on the site of a former synagogue and now home to the Museum of Jewish History. Girona was also home to Nahmanides, one of medieval Judaism's most significant scholars, and the city's Jewish community was among Catalonia's largest before 1492.

Barcelona to Girona is roughly ninety minutes by car or forty minutes by high-speed rail, making a day trip feasible, though an overnight allows the Call to be walked in the quieter evening and early morning hours. The route can extend north toward Besalú and Figueres, both under an hour further, for a fuller three-to-four-day Catalonia itinerary.

Barcelona's own Call, in the Gothic Quarter, is smaller and less architecturally intact than Girona's but includes a small medieval synagogue building now open to visitors, along with street names that still trace the quarter's original boundaries. Guides here work from documentary and archaeological sources rather than standing architecture, given how much of the original quarter was absorbed into the later city.

A private guide in Girona and a separate specialist in Barcelona ensure depth in both cities rather than a generalist overview, with transport arranged between them by private car or rail. This route works well as a standalone three-to-four-day itinerary or as the Spanish component of a longer Iberian journey.