• Wanderlust from Edmonton
  • Wanderlust from Edmonton

Costa Brava 2025 Mary/Sandra

Another walking trip, along with some extra days in Girona, Barcelona and Valencia - another adventure, good exercise and a chance to visit a country we love! Read more
  • Trip start
    October 17, 2025
  • First day in Spain

    October 18, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We arrived around 1 pm this afternoon after having flown overnight. We spent some time wandering the city as neither of us has been here for a few years. We were highly entertained by la citta infanita - essentially a wood Lego farm where families were practicing their building and balancing the pieces. We walked to a couple of churches - the latter being see Cathedral de Barcelona and watched a man singing out front. We finished our day with a great meal at Bodega Biarritz near our apartment. Highly recommend.Read more

  • Croissants, Gaudi snd Design Museum

    October 19, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We started the day at a lovely little cafe around the corner from our apartment with flat whites and beautiful croissants. Thought of you Alex Moody as we viewed the gorgeous pastries!

    We walked to Gaudi's Casa Mila first and then on to La Sagrada Familia, both spectacular masterpieces. We moved on to a market - read dozens of stalls selling beautiful fresh looking food. Then we spent a couple hours in the design museum, (sorry, no photos) but I highly recommend a visit to anyone traveling here. We wandered over to see Barcelona's Arc de Triomf and back to the hotel for a rest. Dinner at La Fonda, a going concern in the gothic quarter. Tomorrow we take the train to the starting point for our walk.Read more

  • L'Escala

    October 20, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    We arrived in Figueres-Vilafant and Steve, a Scottish fellow who has been living here 19 years collected us to drive to L'Escala. Photo shows the view from my room balcony.

  • L'Escala

    October 20, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Our stop along the way before starting our walk. We arrived and checked into our hotel overlooking the ocean. We had a nice lunch of aubergine and sardines, wandered around town a bit, saw a couple of cool sculptures on the waterfront, bought supplies for our lunch tomorrow and finally had a nice tapas dinner at El Patio. Oh and the town across the water looking pink - we will be walking there tomorrow. That's the colour of the town as the sun sets on it. Cool!Read more

  • L'Escala to Sant Pere Pescador

    October 21, 2025 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    We started the day with a beautiful sunrise on the Gulf of Roses and a yummy and plentiful breakfast. We saw lots of beautiful sites along our walk (almost 14 kms). Finished our night in Castello D’Empuries for a scrumptious and too plentiful dinner of traditional Cantalan food.Read more

  • San Pere Pescado to Castello

    October 22, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Beautiful and warm weather to start our day with the sun shining. A lot of the day was spent walking through bird and fish sanctuary areas. Lots of birders out with telephoto lenses. We also passed an area in which they are doing some cool water treatment too. In Castello we finally had a drink of some Catalan Vermouth - thinking of you Elizabeth Weir - after which we walked around town to find a recommended restaurant only to find it closed. Took some photos of the Basilica de Santa Maria that looms large over the town. We returned to our hotel where they seem to have the most clientele in town for dinner. Mary had roast lamb - you would have loved it Barry - similar to Serbian roast lamb - and I had Dorado (the whole fish!). About 17 kms walked today and tomorrow will be the same only with a couple hundred metres of elevation. Some cow photos for you too Elizabeth!Read more

  • Around Cadaques

    October 23, 2025 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    Yesterday we spent the day in and around Cadaques. We walked out toward the lighthouse on the point and then explored around town. We found a beautiful Basilica which was also being used as a mosque. Very cool sharing. Outside was a man playing beautiful guitar but sadly he did not have CDs for sale. After lots of walking we retired to a waterside bar for a glass of Catalan Vermut (vermouth). Very tasty. We headed out for dinner and happened upon the Michelin star worthy restaurant that we had been unable to get a reservation online. We took a chance and went in to ask if there was any way they could accommodate us. They could and they did! Amazing and beautiful food! It was so good I forgot to take photos and it was photo worthy! Each plate artistry.Read more

  • Dali House visit

    October 24, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Gala and Salvador Dali's home. Interesting place. Was built from what had originally been seven cabins. Library is only one part of the house in which thousands of books were stored. Even the bathroom had books. Shelf above the bookcases holds three stuffed swans that had been their pets. Oval room built for Gala to host guests for conversations. Amazing reverberant acoustics. View from the living room is amazing.Read more

  • Cap de Creus

    October 24, 2025 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    We started the day hiking along the coastal path towards Cap de Creus. Cool art installation floating in the water. We took a boat ride out to Cap de Creus, the most easterly point of Spain. Walked back into town where we fortified ourselves with some Vermut while looking out to the sea. Dinner at another amazing restaurant with good food and service - Es Roco.Read more

  • Cadaques to Port de la Selva

    October 25, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    One long challenging walk, up a mountain and down again. Elevation 318 metres, 26,000 steps, 15 kms. Rocky and difficult paths, so slow going. It was super peaceful as we saw not another person for the first half of the day. We did however meet a couple of dogs who walked with us for an hour or so. And we met some cows. Saw thousands of prickly pear plants. Finally in town, checked into a nice hotel and headed out for dinner. On a balcony overlooking the water we had a nice tapas dinner.Read more

  • Port de la Selva to Palau Saverdera

    October 26, 2025 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    We opted to walk along to coast from Port de la Selva to Llanca and then we traveled on to Palau-Saverdera.

    The coastal walk was beautiful and then we walked up about 150 steps up and into Llanca where I made the acquaintance of a lovely kitty.

    Eventually we arrived in Palau and our hotel Niu Sol. Beautiful lounge where we relaxed with a bottle of wine and our books.
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  • Two days in Girona

    October 27, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We have just spent two days in Girona, a lovely city north of Barcelona, following our walk of the Costa Brava.

    Right after we checked in we found a street market set up on the pedestrian bridge near our hotel. Lots of cool stuff at the market but the only thing I captured on camera was the very friendly cat with whom I had a little visit.

    We then wandered the old town. Saw the Jewish quarter that dates back to the 12th century and it's very narrow street on which many people lived.

    We next moved on to the Cathedral of St Mary, of Game of Thrones fame. It has almost 100 steps up to the Cathedral. These are the steps Jamie Lannister rode up on his horse. Other than GoT it is known for having the largest nave of any Gothic church in the world. It is a pretty spectacular site.

    We finished our day enjoying some Catalan Vermut before we headed to dinner.

    Today we walked around the city some more, visited the Arab baths and walked the top of the city walls.

    The photo with all the yellow is the doors to a school. Such an adorable way to welcome the students.

    After walking about 12 kms around the city it was time for a glass of Vermut before a light dinner.
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  • First two days in Valencia

    October 30, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    This is a beautiful city! So much gorgeous architecture and public art. Yesterday we arrived in the afternoon, walked around and then boarded a hop on hope off bus to see a bunch of the important spots and orient ourselves. Today we walked along the gorgeous park paths, walked the old city and visited the public market. With evening approaching we were resting with an apperol spritz.Read more

  • Last day in Valencia

    October 31, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Another lovely warm day. We spent time wandering by the Palau de les Artes (Palace of the Arts) and in the jardines (park). The park has many trails, play and rest areas - a beautiful place that winds its way around the city providing beautiful green spaces for a population that lives, it seems, all in apartments. We visited a Sorolla exhibit. Sorolla, a Valencia based artist was friendly with John Singer Sargent and some of his paintings show some similarities to Sargeant's works. And we had more good food and drink. Off to Barcelona again now.Read more

  • Final day in Barcelona

    November 1, 2025 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We traveled by train to Barcelona and made our way to the hotel. I might add we looked at Google maps and saw it was only a 15 minute walk to the hotel so why not walk! We should have known. Despite Google maps telling us pretty much everything is *mostly flat" there's very little in Spain that is not a hill of some sort. So up hill all the way to our hotel, dragging 15 kg suitcases, eager to get off to the big Barcelona market. Sadly we discovered when looking for the best way to travel there, that it was closed due to all saints day. So what else could we do. We moved on to a bar in a lovely square - where they had a menu of gins - for some G&Ts. The next day November 2nd, we boarded the plane for the journey home.Read more

    Trip end
    November 2, 2025