Farming it up in Girona
Josep Cufi’s organic farm forms part of the WWOOF organisation, and thus receives people from all over the world to work for food and board. It is located near Banyoles in the Girona province, 120 kilometres from Barcelona. Quite isolated, the farm rests in a beautiful valley about eight kilometres from the nearest town, and is home to horses, hens, dogs, cats, ducks, and even a forest!
Students who venture there will find themselves helping out with work in the forest, with the animals and in the orchard. There are academic language courses to take up in Banyoles, or, if preferred, on the farm itself.
Girona
Built on an ancient Roman route linking Spain to the rest of Europe, “The Walled City” of Spain is steeped in history. A river divides it in half, and on either side of it lie the new and old districts. The mediaeval old city spreads out beneath ancient walls and watchtowers.
Girona also has its surprises. Its people had forgotten an important part of their past, until in the 1970s it was discovered that the city was once a great centre of Jewish learning and mysticism. Now, the Jewish part (The “Call”) is being restored as the people are taking great pride in this added leaf to their city’s history book.
Both the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees are just an hour away, as is Barcelona.
Spain
From the serious and passionate nature of the two-hundred-year-old flamenco to the biggest food fight in the world, Spain is a country of contrasts. At its centre is a high, dry, flat land, yet there are also mountain ranges in abundance, not to mention islands and beaches.
You could find yourself participating in the running of the bulls, or, if having a 750-kilogram bull breathing down your neck is not your thing, then perhaps you may write home about throwing some of the 120,000 kilograms of tomatoes that 30,000 food-fighters use for ammunition every year in Bunol’s ‘Tomatina’ festival.
Spain’s history is also very colourful. It was controlled by the Roman Empire for three hundred years, the Visigoths for two hundred, and the Moors for eight hundred. In many ways, the Muslim kingdom was the best place to live in Europe, with its multiculturalism and tolerance. Its people were dedicated to learning, with the greatest library system outside Baghdad.
However, eventually Roman Catholics from Europe decided to take over Spain, and soon after this King Fernando and Queen Isabela married, uniting the country, and financing Colombus in his quest to find a quicker route to China – which resulted in the discovery of the Americas.
