2 Best Sights in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Costa Blanca, Spain

Girona is especially noted for its 12th-century Jewish Quarter, El Call, which branches off Carrer de la Força, south of the Plaça Catedral. The quarter is a network of lanes that crisscross above one another, and houses built atop each other in disorderly fashion along narrow stone medieval streets. The earliest presence of Jews in Girona is uncertain, but the first historical mention dates from 982. This once-prosperous community—one of the most flourishing in Europe during the Middle Ages—was, at its height, a leading center of Kabbalistic learning.

Listed as a national artistic-historic monument in 1931, Tossa de Mar's Vila Vella (Old Town) is the only remaining example of a fortified medieval coastal town in Catalonia. Set high above the town on a promontory, the Old Town is presided over by the ramparts and towers of the 13th-century Castillo de Tossa de Mar, and is a steep yet worthy climb up from the main town, accessed from the western side of Platja Gran (Playa Grande).

The cliff-top views, particularly at sunset, are remarkable, and the labyrinth of narrow, cobblestone lanes lined with ancient houses (some dating back to the 14th century) is a delight to explore at a leisurely pace.  Bar el Far de Tossa, near the lighthouse, has some of the best views in town, plus drinks, snacks, and light meals.