Arrival in Girona, Spain – 15th to 16th August

To make getting to their house as straight forward as possible, this meant getting a lift over to Stansted Airport so that we could fly direct into Girona on Tuesday evening.  There was no delay but it was still 1040pm by the time we had collected our baggage and got through passport control to see a beaming Jacqui waiting to pick us up.

We headed straight back to the house where we were given the tour and caught up over a beer.  Paul was in the UK until Thursday evening so it was just the three of us and the dogs, Levi and Ike, who seem to have settled in well.  We had to call it a night or we would have been chatting into the 16^th and the plan was that Simon and I would both accompany Jacqui into Girona town in the morning to get a taste for the City and the shop straight away.

Wednesday 16^th August.  Luckily, the lifestyle in Catalonia is much more laid back than in the UK.  Business hours in the City do not start until 10am but consequently this means later opening into the evenings following siesta.  We got a lift with Jacqui into Girona leaving the house at 9am which gave us time to stop in Independence Plaza for a coffee and croissant for breakfast.  Then we were introduced to the shop which opened at 10am.

Jacqui all ready to welcome customers into the shop

A birds' eye view of the shop from the upstairs balcony

The second room of the shop

Can Ike (translation - house of Ike) is in a great location, in the old town on a corner within a very touristy area.  So there is a lot of foot traffic passing by and coming in for a browse. Jacqui and Paul should be really proud of what they’ve achieved here. The shop is really well presented with some great displays and special offers and it is larger than it appears in photographs so there is plenty of scope to add more stock.  It was also very sociable.  Lots of friends or other shop-owners kept popping in with their dogs. There is an upstairs mezzanine for the dogs and extra humans to relax in!  Our most important job was popping out to buy coffee from a cheap cafe down street. And keeping out of the way.  We wanted to help but it is difficult to assist customers in a different language and when you don’t know the stock you are trying to sell.  Jacqui was much better at that!

It was all a bit much for Ike.... time to chill

The shop shut for siesta from 2-4pm.  The routine them seems to be to take the dogs for a walk followed by a late lunch at the Irish Bar on Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian area in Girona (same name as the matching area in Barcelona).  Jacqui went off to her Spanish lesson so we took our time with drinks before wandering to the Information Centre.  We had discovered to our delight that Girona was used to film a number of episodes of Game of Thrones (GOT) – most notably for areas of Kings’ Landing and the ‘shame’ steps outside the Red Keep (those of you who don’t watch will have no idea what I’m on about, but it’s a very significant scene involving nudity and rotten tomatoes!) .  Striking lucky at the Visitors’ Centre (YET AGAIN!!) we were given a map on which they ringed the relevant GOT locations for us.  We went for a stroll around the old town – partly to see these locations, partly so that I could get some practise using my new flashy camera.

Beautiful view of the colourful riverside houses and the Eiffel bridge

Yes, that's ME on the iron throne!

The 'shame' steps!!

We paid 2.50 Euros to each have a go sitting on the iron throne which is also visiting Girona currently, it’s the thing to do this summer. There is no doubt about it, Girona, especially the old town part, is incredibly pretty with some stunning architecture and scenery.

Back in the shop, Levi guards the dog food

And it’s HOT!  I’m talking mid-thirties at the height of the day, so we returned to the relative coolness of the shop when we had worked up a sweat wandering the streets.  We took the opportunity to go and get some groceries to take back to the house.  We had agreed a figure we would pay as a contribution to the upkeep of the Gibbs’ house on a weekly basis but we also wanted to make sure we were catering for ourselves.  When the shop shut at 830pm we struggled somewhat to carry our 6 heavy grocery bags back to car between us with the two dogs in tow as well! However, the plan for dinner tonight was to drive to a Pizza takeaway place where we had a beer whilst they were cooking, before taking the pizzas back to the house.  Jacqui and Paul have struck up a close relationship with a young Australian cycling couple who live in the same street.  Girona is a Mecca for cyclists, I’m told, because of the winding and mountainous country roads which are excellent for training purposes.  Mel and her fiancée Rohan are both Olympic cyclists,  though Mel has recently had to retire due to injury.  Whilst Rohan is off competing in the Vuelta a Espana (the Spanish equivalent of the Tour de France), Mel is invited to join Jacqui and Paul most evenings along with their seven-month old Japanese Akita puppy called Willis.  

Willis chilling in the shop

He is a bit of a handful despite not being full size yet and is part of the reason that the Gibbs and the Aussies have struck up their relationship!  We chilled out in the house in front of Star Wars – the Force awakens whilst keeping an eye out on the dogs.  It was a late night.  This working for a living (if you can call what we did that) is exhausting!