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Girona — a city where legends come alive

In northeastern Spain, where the Onyar, Ter, and Galligantes rivers merge into one stream, stands Girona — a city often called an open-air museum. Here, every stone holds memories of Romans, Moors, Jewish Kabbalists, and medieval bishops. The narrow alleys of El Call wind between stone walls over a thousand years old, while the colorful facades of the houses above the Onyar reflect in the murky water, creating a scene no one who has ever seen it in photographs can forget. But photographs cannot capture the main thing — the city's breath, its rhythm, how shadows glide across the cathedral walls throughout the day, how tourists fill the staircase by noon, how the streetlights come on along the waterfront in the evening. That is why Girona's webcams allow you to feel this atmosphere from anywhere in the world — simply choose a stream and watch the life of the city in real time.

Girona Cathedral: witches, a lion, and the widest Gothic nave in Europe

The dominant point of Girona's skyline is the Cathedral of Saint Mary, rising atop a hill. A monumental staircase of 86 steps, built in the 17th century, leads to it. But the main wonder lies inside: the cathedral's nave reaches 22.98 meters in width, making it the widest Gothic nave in the world — it surpasses even Notre-Dame de Paris and Seville Cathedral. When you stand beneath these vaults, you get the feeling that the masonry floats in the air without touching the walls.

On the north wall of the cathedral, among the gargoyles, hides a stone witch with a cat-like face, wings, and a crown — a character from the legend of a woman who sold her soul to the devil for wealth. According to belief, she awaits redemption to regain her human form. And at the top of the staircase lies a bronze lion — the guardian of the entrance to the sanctuary. There is a tradition: if you do a backflip without touching the lion, your wish will come true. Webcams aimed at the square in front of the cathedral show tourists attempting this trick while guides tell the story of witches turned to stone by the power of faith.

Colorful houses over the Onyar: how an architect created a palette of seven colors

Casas de l'Onyar — the colorful houses on the Onyar riverfront — are Girona's calling card, depicted on millions of postcards. But few know that this bright facade is a relatively young element of the cityscape. Until the mid-20th century, the houses above the river were gray and unattractive: textile factories and tanneries polluted the Onyar, and soot quickly covered the walls.

In the 1960s, local architect Enric Anreu developed a strict color palette so that the variety would not turn into chaos. He created a palette of seven main colors — from soft blue to rich terracotta and yellow — and distributed them across the facades so that the shades would gently flow into one another when viewed from the Pedra and Set Ponts bridges. Fishermen heading out onto the river at dawn could easily identify their home from afar by the color of its facade. Today, these houses are among the most photographed objects in Catalonia, and online cameras on the waterfront allow you to see how the sunlight changes the hues on the walls throughout the day.

The Jewish Quarter: Kabbalists, crypto-Jews, and the mysteries of El Call

El Call — Girona's Jewish quarter — is a labyrinth of narrow stone-paved alleys and inner courtyards where sunlight never penetrates. This is one of the best-preserved medieval ghettos in Europe, where traces of the life of the Jewish community expelled from Spain in 1492 can still be found.

In the 13th century, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman — the Ramban, or Nachmanides — lived and worked here, an outstanding Kabbalist and biblical scholar whose ideas influenced the formation of the Zohar. In the houses of the quarter, hidden niches for mezuzahs, secret rooms, and Davidic symbols embedded in doorframes are still being found — evidence of crypto-Jews who secretly practiced their religion after the Alhambra Decree. On Montjuïc hill in the Middle Ages, there was a Jewish cemetery; about 500 tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions were used in the 20th century for building construction and roads. Many of them have been recovered and are displayed in the Museum of Jewish History, but some still remain hidden beneath the foundations of modern buildings.

Girona in Game of Thrones: in the footsteps of Arya Stark

In 2015, Girona became one of the main locations of the sixth season of Game of Thrones, replacing Braavos and partly King's Landing. The grand steps of the cathedral became the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor, where Arya Stark, wounded by the Waif, tries to flee through the city streets and falls at the entrance to a tavern. The same steps were used to film Jaime Lannister's entrance into the city with his army.

The Monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, a 12th-century Romanesque gem, became the set for the Citadel in Braavos — it was here that Samwell Tarly and Archmaester Ebrose studied books. The Arab Baths, built in the image of Roman thermae, became the location where Arya washed clothes and worked as an oyster merchant. The narrow streets of El Call, including Carrer de la Força, became the backdrop for scenes with the blinded Arya, and the tavern "El Tigre" became the facade of the House of Black and White. Today, tours following the filming locations walk these streets, and webcams show how tourists search for those very angles familiar from the series.

World capital of cycling: why champions train here

In the late 1990s, Girona became a mecca for professional cycling. American riders George Hincapie and Christian Vande Velde were the first to move here, training alongside Lance Armstrong. They were followed by dozens of world-class athletes — Dan Martin, Simon Yates, Rohan Dennis. The reasons are simple: mild winters allow year-round training, the surroundings offer both challenging mountain routes toward Val d'Aran and flat coastal roads of the Costa Brava, and the local roads have excellent surfaces and low traffic.

The city is home to several professional teams, the best sports physiologists and bike workshops operate here, and hotels are geared toward accommodating cyclists. In the morning on the roads around Girona, you can meet Tour de France and Vuelta champions, and in the evening — see them in cafés on Plaça de la Catalunya. Online broadcasts from city streets sometimes catch these athletes during training rides.

The legend of the fly: how an insect became a hero of the siege

On Girona's coat of arms, above the shield, is depicted a fly — the unofficial symbol of the city, whose history is connected to the siege of 1285. During the War of the Catalan Succession, the French army besieged the city, but an epidemic broke out in the camp, and flies swarmed unbearably over the unburied corpses of soldiers. According to the heroic version, a fly attacked the eye of a French officer or his helmet, the commander in despair dropped his sword, was killed by the city's defenders, and the army, demoralized by the death of their leader and the invasion of insects, retreated.

Since then, the fly has become a symbol of Girona's defense, and locals are nicknamed "stupid flies" — an expression that arose because the insects swarmed over residents hiding behind the walls, but later acquired an ironic, boastful tone. Today, fly figurines are sold in souvenir shops, and at city festivals, a giant fly becomes one of the characters in processions.

Which cameras show the city

Girona's webcams cover key points of the city: the square in front of the cathedral, where the staircase leads to the entrance of the Gothic temple; the Onyar waterfront with colorful houses reflecting in the river; the Pedra bridge, offering the best view of the Casas de l'Onyar; the streets of the Jewish quarter with their medieval atmosphere. The broadcasts allow you to watch how the light changes throughout the day, how tourists fill the alleys of El Call, how the streetlights come on along the waterfront in the evening. Choose any camera and watch Girona online — a city where history comes alive before your eyes.