Girona has over the years become a first-class tourist destination thanks to its various charms. The fact that Ryanair chose the Girona-Costa Brava airport as its operational base in the south of Europe has also been a decisive contributory factor.
It is this airport, with its millions of passengers every year, that seemed the best site for a high speed train station, taking arriving passengers on to Barcelona in the south or in the direction of Paris in the north. The link with Girona could have been resolved by a few shuttle trains, such as those to be found at many European and American airports.
The pretension of grandeur shown by governments and their obsession to leave their imprint on the landscape for future generations is what led to the decision to place the high-speed train station smack in the middle of the city, which is why Girona has since been turned upside down by gargantuan-scale building work.
Squads of German engineers have invaded the streets of Girona, causing holes to be dug, such as that in the photo, which have obliged the authorities to completely cut off roads so that the huge machinery can work day and night underground at a depth of 30 metres.
However, it is not only a case of the inconvenience caused to inhabitants and visitors that these large-scale works cause. It is also the fact that digging such a huge tunnel beneath a city that is criss-crossed by five different rivers, with all the risks that brings, requires a multi-million investment.
It is true that the result is likely to be spectacular and the city will be able to boast a huge underground station at its heart. However, that should not stop us from wondering if it might not have made more sense to build a more modest station on the outskirts of the city, or at the airport, at a far more reasonable cost.
