Besalu is a small town located in the region of Catalonia, in the north-east of Spain, close to the French border. The town has a characteristic historic dense housing, which has been preserved unaltered since the early Middle Ages. The town can be entered through the 12th-century bridge, which features a gateway at its midpoint. The gate was used for collecting tolls from the visitors. Today tourists from all over the world may enter the town free of charge and they willingly do so. When one enters the town it may be compared to travelling in time – walking along narrow cobbled streets among medieval tenement houses and churches lets visitors feel the atmosphere of the past centuries. Only the souvenir shops and restaurant signboards remind the visitors that they are still in the 21st century.
