Girona

A cathedral city on the River Onyar, with coloured houses reflected in the water. The Jewish Quarter is one of the best preserved in Europe. You can walk the Roman walls from above, and that walk gives you the whole city at once.

Late afternoon is the best time — the light settles into ochre on the stone, and the city grows quieter after lunch.

The city of Dalí, and of the theatre-museum he designed as his final work. Give it a whole morning.

One of Catalonia's best-preserved medieval villages, set on a hill above the rice fields. Walk the narrow streets, look for the Gothic arches. At Christmas it hosts one of the finest living nativities in the Empordà.

A stone village cut almost literally out of the rock — its name means "carved stone". Tiny, walkable in an hour, but memorable for much longer.

A walled Empordà village built around the castle of the Rocabertí family, with a fourteenth-century convent and some of Catalonia's oldest wineries.

In July and August, the castle gardens become one of the country's finest music venues — the Festival Castell de Peralada, with opera, classical music, and dance, returning every summer since 1987. During Holy Week, a smaller cycle of chamber concerts is held inside the Church of Carme.

A small walled town on the way inland, just twenty minutes from our door. Each spring, around Holy Week, its fortress opens for three days of artisans, processions, and falconry — the Fira Medieval, now nearing its thirtieth year.