December in Girona

Those of you cyclists who have considered riding in Girona in December, we highly recommend it! At night the temperatures can be in the 30s but during the day in the 50s (2-14 degrees celcius), so you don´t have to feel bad about sleeping in, enjoying breakfast and going for a ride at 11am. The days are usually sunny and the best part of all, there is hardly any traffic on probably the most amazing road, the coastal road!

Other things to enjoy this time of year, is the wonderfully curious tradition of the Caga Tió. You can see this figure in the holiday markets, the most famous of which is the Santa Llúcia market in Barcelona, and shops around town. Starting today, Dec. 8th, children all around Catalonia will start feeding their Caga Tió(or *hitting log) a little each night, so that it will *hit out presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day when they hit it with sticks and sing a song.
Another scatalogical figure to enjoy by kids of all ages is the Caganer (the *hitter) that cannot be missed in any manger scene (even the live ones) all around Catalonia. Every year they make funny ones according to what is going on politically or culturally in the world.

We are also at the tail end of the wild mushroom ¨hunting¨ season. In the Fall, it is custom for people to go to their favorite places in the woods and mountains to look for ¨bolets¨ (wild mushrooms). Every restaurant has special seasonal recipes to incorporate the many varieties found here into their cuisine.