The wonderful music from an elderly man playing Spanish guitar while we crossed the Besalú bridge close to sunset is what magical moments are made of, and it was the most beautiful thing to happen today.

Besalú came as a suggestion from someone at work, a former Catalan resident, and with her strong emphasis on how great it was I made sure to make a note of it in our plans. I’d never heard of the place, of course, so after seeing images online I became convinced it was worth a stop – sometime, somehow. After another shortened side trip occurred at our second destination today, and with ungrudging encouragement from our driver, there was still enough time to do a third stop somewhere, which I took as the opportunity to take advantage of.

The nearly two-hour trip from Bagà to Besalú was of course another easy chance to get a quick nap, and after reaching our destination and drowsily getting out of our vehicle, I could already tell how much more special the place is from what I imagined.

Any medieval town always gets my attention and the fact there was so much more to Besalú was icing on the cake. The lively squares, art in unexpected places, a beautifully-maintained and impressive stone bridge connecting the town with a castle in the outskirts, a meandering river hugging the town perimeter, stores upon stores selling local wares – there was so much to see and feel I quickly texted Teko that I’d found a jewel of a town that easily  qualified as a place we could eventually move to. After we had just about exhausted all the main streets, it was already past 8 p.m. and as we still had  two hours of travel back to Barcelona, it was definitely time to leave. With some sadness and satisfaction, we walked back into town across the bridge and I couldn’t help but feel that Spanish guitar hit close to home. It was a beautiful way to say goodbye and maybe a siren call to come back another time.