Olot's Best Restaurant (Liza awards)

The best tapas this side of the border (the Spanish one, that is) - 
Can Manolos / L'Altre
This is what we have (very healthy):

navalles

gambas

boquerons

formatge amb oli

patatas bravas

sardinas

             

calamares a la andaluza

 c/  Montsalvatge 15 - 17800 Olot
 972 263 716 

Favourite Girona Restaurants - no particlar order

Chain restaurant.Best salads in town imo, great crêpes, large servings,
informal, friendly, cheap, romantic grungy decor

Beautiful garden and terrace tables at the back. Reasonable food and price, good house wine, informal, friendly, great for Summer especially. Also nice just ofr a drink. We demolished a bottle of Cava around a pretty garden table, while waiting quite a while for our table...hard life

Specialities are suckling pig and Burgos lamb. Between 6 we ordered 4 suckling pig...started with marvellous tuna salad. Not cheap, but a great experience of eating 'a la grande' and it's a 20 minute stroll from the apartment. Full menu is on the website. Historic place - if booking (advisable), ask for interior room table for preference. Closed Monday

Great food and atmosphere. Full menu or tapas. Informal, friendly, not cheap. Slow service probably because everything cooked to order but if you're not going anywhere soon, enjoy. Special.

Great bar with lots of different beers to try. Nice inside in winter, outside in Summer for people-watching. In the Sant Feliu/Felix Church square, convenient for kissing the 'Lion's Bottom'!

Haven't been for a while. They used to do targines, which were fabulous. If they're not doing them anymore, i wouldn't bother, though the terrace underneath the Cathedral is the best place to be on a Summer's evening as there's a breeze blowing down the steps..

.

Attractive bar, been there forever, grungy/hippy with Spanish and Moroccan floor and wall tiles. Lots of canoodling corners, lots of noise, quite a young set nowadays! Looks out onto the river at the back. no terrace.

An institution. Best for coffee or lunch. The 'rustic pizzas' don't do it for me (bread with a topping) but the place itself is gorgeous elegant rustic and it's comfortable for eating alone too. 

The one to go to (book i think) when you walk to Sant Daniel. Great for a coffee outside too. Near the monastery. Attractive, friendly, not cheap.

Girona-based fast food joints all over town, the original and best one being in Jaume I (our standby before early evening cinema session). The worst is unfortunately near the apartment in c/ Mig Dia. Rude, slow, robotic service upstairs, quite aggressively deliberately misunderstand you downstairs, in my experience, never to be repeated. Most appealing is the one in Plaça Independencia and the one in the Sant Feliu Church square. Noisy, family oriented, cheap and cheerful. The hotdogs are the best thing on the menu.

Pasta chain. Family pasta night, cheap, cheerful and nice setting in Plaça Independencia, sitting outside.
They do takeaway.

Car and Bicycle Parking Available - www.gironalet.com

Bicycle parking is in the same block. It costs 10€ per night for the space. It is like the one in this photo with an entrance only for 'residents' and a lift.You need to chain all the bikes together at the moment until we've found some kind of helpful rack. 'Estoy en ello' as they say. Accessible 24 hours a day. Real photo coming soon. The space is also large enough for normal sized saloon cars but you need a couple of weeks practice to park so....

For cars, (not vans or 4X4 monstrosities) there is a parking space just round the corner (1 minute walk) for the same price. Easy entrance and parking, just in front of the train and bus station.

Both spaces require advance notice of booking, as they are otherwise in use.

How To Be A Road Biker

Geieg Swimming Pool and Tennis

Reception Sant Narcís 
from 7 am to 10 pm (from Monday to Friday)
from 7 am to 9 pm (Saturday)
from 8 am to 3 pm (Sunday and winter holidays)
from 8 am to 8 pm (Sunday and summer holidays)
8 € (general entrance fee for non-members)

Tennis (court): Sant Ponç i Sant Narcís 
1.20 € per persona per hour
Sant Narcís outdoor swimming pools
from 11 am to 9 pm (from Monday to Saturday in summer)
from 11 am to 8 pm (Sunday and summer holidays)

Reception Sant Ponç

from 7 am to 10 pm (from Monday to Friday)
from 7 am to 9 pm (Saturday)
from 8 am to 3 pm (Sunday and winter holidays)
from 8 am to 8 pm (Sunday and summer holidays)

8 € (general entrance fee for non-members)
Swimming classes (July and August): Sant Ponç 

from 7:20 am to 9:35 pm (45 min a day classes)
25 € (2 days a week) / 40 € (4 days a week)

Sant Ponç Olympic swimming pool
from 7 am to 10 pm (from Monday to Friday)
from 7 am to 9 pm (Saturday)
from 8 am to 3 pm (Sunday and winter holidays)
from 8 am to 8 pm (Sunday and summer holidays)


Sant Ponç indoor swimming pool
from 7 am to 10 pm (from Monday to Friday)
from 7 am to 9 pm (Saturday)
from 8 am to 3 pm (Sunday and winter holidays)
from 8 am to 8 pm (Sunday and summer holidays)
Closed for maintenance from the 1st to 31st August

Tennis (illuminated): Sant Ponç i Sant Narcís
As per the centre’s timetable
2.50 € per hour
Squash: Sant Ponç
As per the centre’s timetable
1.75 € per person ½ hour
Minigolf: Sant Ponç
As per the centre’s timetable
2 € per person
UVA (tanning facilities): Sant Ponç (i know!?!)
As per the centre’s timetable
2.50 € for 10 minutes 

Scooters for the day - Casademont

On the coast, anything is possible, but organising a surprise outing on a scooter from Olot, was almost impossible. Casademont solved the problem and we were able to have the bike delivered to our front door and collected the next day, without any hassle and the absolute minimum of fuss. It was a pleasure dealing with them and it occurred to me that it's a nice way to get around Girona or to the coast if you so wished.
We had the more modern version as we expected to explore the medieval villages and Romanesque churches around Banyoles and do a bit of mileage. We were provided with 2 helmets and there is a deposit to pay normally. 
A word of warning: instructions on how to get on, are not given. Being more used to horses, i advise you not to load 50 kilos onto the back pedal, thus crushing unsuspecting husband underneath said bike, before even setting off. 

Christmas Markets

Christmas Market - Plaça Independència

30 de novembre de 2013 al 5 de gener de 2014
All day

All kinds of festive silliness - little gifts, handicrafts, flowers, nativity figurines, lights, ornaments, sweets, etc.

Ter River bank Market (La Devesa Wood)

9-2pm Tuesday and Saturday

Clothes, gifts, fruit and veg, scarves, bags, table cloths....