The three Roca brothers grew up in Taialà, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Girona.[1]
Joan Roca (chef)
Josep Roca (sommelier) earned World's Best Sommelier in 2022[2]
Jordi Roca (pastry chef) was the subject of an episode of the Netflix show Chef's Table in 2018. He has had dystonia since 2016, a neurological condition that caused permanent loss of his voice.[3]
Helena Bagué Vilà is one of the two creators of Pot Petit, a Catalan music group for children
Júlia Riera is the creator of Daily Catalan, an Instagram account with over 100,000 followers
Glòria Salomó Bosch and Ingrid Rahola founded Llagurt, a chain of frozen yogurt shops in 2010, which now has over 30 locations across Catalonia[4]
Ester Bertran Ferrer is a reporter for TV3 and also has a regular spot on Catalan TV show Tot es Mou.
Àngel Daban is a children's musician.
Xavier Corominas i Mainegre wrote the sci-fi novel Per a qui es baten els ous[5] and was mayor of Salt between 1991 and 1999.
Xavier Cugat (1900–1990) was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music in the United States. He was born in Girona and is buried in Girona's Cementiri Vell. He has a street and a festival giant dedicated to him.[6]
Mural of Antònia Adroher in GironaAntònia Adroher i Pascual (1913–2007) was a Catalan teacher, political activist, and educator born in Girona. She was the first woman in charge of education in Girona during the Spanish Civil War. She made sure all children could go to free public schools and worked for equal education for boys and girls. After Franco took over Spain, in 1939 she fled to France. She returned to Catalonia in 1977 after Franco’s dictatorship ended. A street and a library in Girona are named after her. As part of the Milestone Festival (a former annual street art festival in Girona), a mural of Antonia Adroher was painted at Carrer Portal de Nou.
Nicolau Eimeric (English: Nicholas Eymerich) was a Roman Catholic theologian in Medieval Catalonia and Inquisitor General of the Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon in the later half of the 14th century.[7] He is best known for authoring the Directorium Inquisitorum, the definitive handbook of procedure for the Spanish Inquisition until into the seventeenth century.[8]
Writer Joaquim Ruyra was born in a building on Carrer de Sant Josep in Girona.[9]
Sopa de Cabra ('Goat Soup') is a Catalan rock band from Girona. They include Girona in their songs. For example, their song "Carrer dels Torrats" is about a real street in Girona, which used to be called Carrer dels Torrats, but is now called Carrer Nou del Teatre.[10]
Carles Puigdemont was mayor of Girona from 2011 to 2016, and president of Catalonia from 2016 to 2017. On 27 October 2017, he declared Catalonia independent. Spain charged him with rebellion and sedition, so he fled to Belgium.
Marc Gasol is a basketball player from Barcelona. He founded Bàsquet Girona, the main men's basketball club in Girona. In fact, the club used to be called Club Escola Bàsquet Marc Gasol, before it changed its name to Bàsquet Girona. He has also played for the NBA, and helped lead the Toronto Raptors to become NBA champions in 2019. He also played for Girona's Club Bàsquet Sant Josep from 2006–2008, and when the club dissolved in 2013, this was when Marc created his own basketball club, Bàsquet Girona.[11] His brother, Pau Gasol, is the club's vice president.[12]
Anna Carreras Castañer is the first woman to join the Ferrari Formula 1 medical team.[13] She was born in Cellera de Ter but has lived in Girona for some of her adult life.
Many professional riders have lived or trained in Girona.
George Hincapie was one of the first English-speaking pros to settle in Girona (around 1997), helping start the trend.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong made Girona his cycling base in 2001.[14][15]
David Millar is a Scottish former world champion time trialist. He was banned from racing for two years in 2004 after he admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs. He moved to Girona in 2006 and lived there for many years. He wrote about the city in his memoir Racing Through the Dark.
"Girona was perfect; the weather was fabulous, the roads quiet and varied [...] Waking up to blue skies was refreshing and the Catalans were friendly and welcoming."
Christian Vande Velde – American Tour de France rider and later commentator; part of the early Girona pro community.
Tyler Hamilton – Former Olympic champion and teammate of Armstrong who also based himself in Girona.
Dan Martin – Irish Classics specialist and Grand Tour stage winner who lived and trained in Girona.
Ryder Hesjedal – Canadian Giro d’Italia winner who spent significant time living and training in Girona.
Tejay van Garderen – American Grand Tour rider who lived in Girona during his professional career.
Rohan Dennis – Australian world time-trial champion who has been based in Girona at times.
Caleb Ewan – Australian sprinter who has also used Girona as a residence/training base.
British cyclist Bradley Wiggins lived in Girona. He's a pretty famous cyclist. He was the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France, in 2012. The same year he won a gold medal at the olympics. For a time, he was Great Britain's most decorated Olympian, with eight medals (five gold). He wrote about Girona in his 2009 biography Pursuit Of Glory.
"Girona is a great place, a real mini centre for cycling, the weather is good, there is all sorts of training terrain and always a mob to train with. Brilliant."
Canadian Christian Meier was a pro cyclist who moved to Girona for his career. He retired a year early so he could follow his passion for coffee.[17] He now owns two cafes in Girona: La Fabrica and Espresso Mafia.
Wikiloc is a website created in Girona that provides over 43 million outdoor trails (for hiking, running, bike, etc).[18] More than 12 million users use it.[19] Its headquarters are in the Science Park of the University of Girona.
El Cellar de Can Roca is a three-Michelin-starred restaurant voted the best restaurant in the world twice, in 2013 and 2015, by Restaurant magazine.
Llagurt is a frozen yogurt chain that has around 30 locations across Catalonia.[20] The first Llagurt was in Girona.[21]
König is a chain of restaurants that started in Girona in 1973.[22] It has since spread to Barcelona.
OCINE, one of Spain's largest cinema chains, has its headquarters at Travessia de la Creu, 35, 17002, Girona.[23] OCINE actually began in nearby Olot, where it started as a single cinema, Cine Núria, in 1943. The next cinema was Teatro Ultonia in Girona in 1945.
WePlan is an app for organizing social meetups. It was created in Girona by Eduard Bonet.[24]
Some scenes of Game of Thrones were shot in Girona.
Girona's Cathedral was the Great Sept of Baelor, a centre of religious worship in King's Landing. It exploded in series 6.
Most of the scenes that were shot in Girona were of Braavos, of Arya Stark fleeing from the Waif, through streets such as Claveria, Sant Llorenç, Escola Pia and the Arab Baths.
Behind the Cathedral, on Bishop Josep Cartañà Street (???), is where Arya is blind and begs for money
Outside the Arab baths, a market was set up, where Arya buys a ticket to leave Braavos by boat
In Plaça dels Jurats Arya watches a play about the death of King Joffrey
On the Galligants Bridge, Arya is stabbed and falls into the river.
The Sant Pere de Galligants monastery was the Library where Samwell Tarly arrives with Eli and his son to study to be the maester of Castle Black.
The 2012 Spanish film Tengo Ganas de Ti has a couple of scenes filmed in Girona:
A scene was filmed at Girona’s Pont d’en Gómez (more commonly known as Princess Bridge) between October and December 2011.[26] Mario Casas's character explains to Clara Lago's character that if a couple puts a lock on the bridge and then throws the key in the river, they will never break up. He then proceeds to do just that. Because of the film, the bridge became a real-life romantic location where couples attach padlocks as a symbol of love,[27] until the council removed all the locks with bolt cutters, which wasn't very romantic of them.
In another scene, actress Clara Lago and actor Mario Casas eat pasta at La Dolce Vita, a restaurant in Girona.[28]
Scene in Tengo Ganes de Ti filmed at Girona’s Pont d’en Gómez
Scene in Tengo Ganes de Ti filmed at La Dolce Vita restaurant in Girona
Spanish film Agnosia (2010) used Girona Cathedral as a film location.[29]
A scene in Soldiers of Salamina (2003) was filmed in the restaurant Bistrot.[29]
Some scenes in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) were shot in Girona. For example, a scene where the protagonist kidnaps a red-headed prostitute was filmed at Pujada de Sant Domènec.
Sant Feliu Cathedral was the location for a funeral scene in Tres Dies amb La Família (2009).[29]
The film The Monk (2011) was partially shot in Girona's Barri Vell.
A room in Cinema Truffaut was converted into an old man’s apartment for La Lapidación de Saint Étienne (2012)[29]
Las Leyes de la Frontera (2021) was partly filmed in Girona. It is a story of three teenagers in Girona in 1978.
The photo for the distracted boyfriend meme (which became viral in 2017) was taken in Girona, around 31 Carrer Nou, by Antonio Guillem.[30] The photographer has other stock photos he shot in Girona at https://antonioguillem.com/microstock/2394The photo for the distracted boyfriend meme was taken on Carrer Nou, Girona
Plaça del Raims is the smallest square in Europe, measuring only 24 square meters.
Europe's largest Nescafé factory is in Girona. You can smell the coffee when you get close to it.
Girona Cathedral has the widest gothic nave in the world (23 m). It is also the second-widest nave in the world,[31] surpassed only by the basilica of Saint Peter's in the Vatican, which measures 25 m.
The tallest tulip tree in southern Europe is in La Devesa. The tree was planted around 1876 and is around 40 meters high.[32]
The Benedictines of Sant Daniel are a convent of nuns that turned 1,000 years old in 2025.[33]
Temps de Flors is an annual flower show in Girona that attracts international recognition.
Girona FC is Girona's football club. They reached the Spanish Liga Primera (premiere league) in 2017 and 2022.[34]
Bàsquet Girona is Girona’s basketball team. It was promoted to the Liga ACB (Spain's biggest basketball league) in June 2022.
Uni Bàsquet Girona is Girona's female basketball team. They formed in 2005. They have won the League champions twice (2014–15, 2018–19) and the SuperCopa champions three times (2015–16, 2019–20, 2022–23).
The book Josafat by Prudenci Bertrana is set in Girona. A bust of Prudenci Bertrana was installed in Plaça Catalunya in 1975.[35]
Spain’s biggest theme park, Port Aventura, is only a two-hour drive from Girona.
Ferrari Land, which is next to Port Aventura, has a ride called Red Force, which is Europe’s tallest, fastest roller coaster, and was also once the second-tallest, second-fastest roller coaster in the world.
Nearby Figueres was the birthplace of Salvador Dalí.
Barcelona is one of the most famous cities in the world and is just 40 minutes from Girona by train.
The nearby town of Banyoles hosted the rowing events of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Empuriabrava is the largest residential marina in Europe.
Scene in Tengo Ganes de Ti filmed at Girona’s Pont d’en Gómez
Scene in Tengo Ganes de Ti filmed at La Dolce Vita restaurant in Girona
