Alt Empordà

Today we began with a quick trip to the coastal city of Palamos, which we thought was really tired. So on the spur of the moment we decided to drive the coast of the Alt Empordà, basically the northern half of the Costa Brava. Our first stops were L’Estartit and L’Escala, two similar beach resort towns now packed with holiday goers. Then we had lunch in the small and incredibly charming Sant Marti de Empúries, a medieval village on the great arc of the Bay of Roses. From these sublime heights we descended into the enormous horror known as Empuriabrava. Sadly, this enormous marina development with over 30 km of canals could have been fantastic but is now a showroom for plastic sharks, go-karts, mini-golf and the most hideous waterfront apartment building in Spain. We left feeling like we needed a shower, and that is just what we got, in the form of a beautiful serpentine drive through natural forest along the peninsula to utterly charming Cadaqués. Sparkling white on the sea, it is the perfect weekend getaway. We ate and drank too much, including a pit stop at a local creperie, before walking across the headland to tiny Port Ligat, the fishing village where Dali lived. We took a Polaris ATV back, which was fun.

The only regret was that we didn’t get in a swim today so tomorrow is a full beach day!Read more