Costa Brava, Spain's Wild Coast

8 AM. Sunrise from our hotel balcony in Aiguablava.

During our travels in Europe we have spent a lot of time in Spain. We lived for a month in Alicante (twice!), visited Valencia, and, of course, have spent the last six Christmases in Seville, and have explored the cities of Andalusia.

But Spain is big; we are always discovering new places. Two summers back we spent a fantastic four weeks in the mountains of northern Spain. And now we have returned from exploring another area new to us, the Costa Brava, the "wild coast" of Spain north of Barcelona.

(Yes, brava means "wild," not "brave." That gives a whole new meaning to the name of the traditional Spanish dish Patatas Bravas; not brave, but wild potatoes—a reference, I assume, to the spices, and not so much the behavior of the potatoes.)

Daytime view from our balcony. This chapel intrigued us to no end. Turns out it is all private property.

The Costa Brava is only a 2-1/2 hour drive from where we live; surprisingly close. We left home in the morning, arrived on the Spanish coast, and still had time to explore before heading to our hotel. Of primary interest was the archaeological site at Empúries in the northern reaches of the Costa Brava, not far from the French border.

The luscious-looking town of L'Escala, which we did not visit.

Ah Greek ruins from 500 BCE! That's more like it!

Excavation of more Greek ruins, with a view of the sea.

The Greeks built a small but thriving community here in 575 BCE; 360 years later the Romans arrived and built quite an extensive city a bit further inland. In more recent times a modern city has grown up near them, L'Escala. Although we did not visit, it looked fabulous across the bay of deep blue water.

This looks very much like an oven. Part of the Roman ruins.

Site of the Roman agora, main square, with some reconstructions.

The museum at Empúries.

Roman glass from the 1st century CE.

Roman figurines. Love the articulated arms and legs on the little doll!

Paula glances back at the old Roman wall as we leave Empúries.

After touring Empúries for a bit, and visiting the museum, we continued down the coast to our hotel in Aiguablava, an area recommended by a French couple we know who had visited it recently. We were very glad for their recommendation!

Inlet to the cove at Aiguablava. That's the Mediterranean out there!

        Aiguablava

It was surprisingly quiet around Aiguablava (well, ok, this was October, at the very end of tourist season). There is no commercial center, only two hotels with restaurants. One was right on the water and very pricy; ours was across the road; from our third-floor room we had a fine view of the sea, and the sunrise.

Aiguablava's tiny marina. That's pretty much all of it...

The cove at Aiguablava. Off on the right is a good swimming beach. We walked there... it seems close, but there's a lot of up-and-down!

Aiguablava sits on an inlet from the Mediterranean. It has a tiny marina, and several large houses that looked very much like resorts, but discreet; very discreet. There were no signs of welcome, nothing advertising names and phone numbers. I don't know how one would book a room; it seems this falls in that category of if you have to ask, you can't afford it. We didn't ask; we were pleased with our room a short walk up the hill.

Looking out towards the Sea from the cove. Is that red building a residence, or a guest house? No way to tell...

    Aiguablava

Aiguablava has a quiet beauty that really drew us in. Much of the coast shares this same rugged beauty, with steep cliffs, high rocks, and tiny coves, and the occasional small, isolated beach. And, there is a hiking trail, the Cami de Ronda, that runs along the coast, connecting these coves with the nearby towns. (It is part of the GR92 that will eventually run along the entire Mediterranean coast of Spain, from the French border to Spain's southernmost tip.)

The "Camí de Ronda," part of the GR92, a hiking trail along Spain's Mediterranean coast..

Seen from the trail. Near Calella de Palafrugell.

We wanted to sample the GR92 in various places as we had sampled the trails around the Bay of Morbihan in Brittany last summer. But the Costa Brava is very rugged, as in very. Much of it is steep; steep going up, steep coming back down. And long stretches follow the roads in nearby towns, as there is no room along the shore for even a narrow trail.

The coast here has a real Big Sur vibe.

Nice, wide trail complete with tunnels!

We were thrilled by the parts we were able to follow, though, and often found it resembling California's majestic Big Sur.

Finally we arrive at at tiny narrow beach.

The town of Calella de Palafrugell seen from the trail.

While the coast is the main attraction, there are several towns inland that we wanted to visit.

Begur

Begur is a pleasant village, home to about 4,000 permanent residents. We're told the population swells to 10 times that in the summer; glad we weren't there then!

A typical narrow street in Bergur.

The lady with a cigar (an ad for a cigar store, I think) is reminiscent of Cuba, and the "Indies" houses.

A unique feature of this town are the "Indies" houses. The 19th century had a number of economic crises, and some adventurous individuals left Begur for the New World, to Spain's colony on Cuba. Many of them prospered, and returned some years later. They had done well, and so built magnificent houses for themselves and their families. 

An "Indies house," built by a returning emigrant with proceeds from time spent in Cuba.

Another Indies house. But what's inside those arcades?

The name "Indies" comes from Columbus' initial mistake of thinking he'd found India when he'd actually landed in what today is known as the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas. Somehow all of Spain's subsequent discoveries in the region were referred to as the Indies!

Castel de Begur, a 16th century fortress. Great views of the countryside from up there!

Pals

After Begur we had time to visit this beautiful medieval village. It's located on the top of a hill and was built around a 12th century fortress. It's name comes from Latin palus, which means marshy ground, as it was surrounded by ponds and marshes. It is a gastronomic heaven with many festivals themed around it vast rice producing industry.

A picturesque winding street in the medieval town of Pals.

A courtyard in Pals. Sticking from the wall is an early street lamp: it held burning logs to light the street.
That's Torre de las Horas (Tower of the Hours) in the background.

So charming!

Roses

On our travels we are always on the lookout for standing stones and other megalithic structures. Brittany is loaded with sites (we talk about them in this blog); Ireland and England also have many (Stonehenge being the most dramatic, and the most famous). While we'd never heard of standing stones in Spain, it was hardly a surprise that there are some here (I mean, Spain has so much of everything!)

So, on our last day on the Costa Brava we went north to the town of Roses to see several structures, both menhirs (vertical stones) and dolmens (flat stones resting on stone walls or pillars).

The Dolmen de la Creu d'en Cobertella. Some 6000 years old, it's a bit out of town, near Roses.

Roses seems a pleasant town, although we were stunned at the number of boat dealers and showrooms we passed. You'd think they didn't sell boats anywhere else on the Costa Brava! But our interest was, for once, not near the water but up in the highlands, in the hills surrounding the town.

Another dolmen, this one in the hills above Roses.

This one is known as Llit de Generala, also in the hills!

We'd found waypoints (GPS locations) for some dolmens, and we dutifully followed the GPS in our car up and up through increasingly steep and winding streets to what I guess we could call the edge of town: the precarious houses suddenly stopped as the land flattened out at a protected area, a park to preserve these ancient structures.  

Paul with the Menhir de la Casa Cremada. (Yeah, they have names!)

We spent a hour or so hiking along the well-defined paths that connected the scattered menhirs and dolmens, aware that we were on our way home and did not have all day to linger. We finally turned and headed back to the car in the company of groups of students.

We could not help wishing that we could have taken a field trip this great while in high school!

The both of us in front of the menhir.

After returning the car we spent a few minutes admiring the fantastic views. 

The city of Roses and it's extensive gulf; Paula contemplates where we've been.

Once we had wound our way back down the twisting streets we were soon on our way to the Autoroute, the high-speed toll road back north. We did stop to get gas; for some reason fuel in Spain its about 20% less than in France. Then we hit the highway and were home before dark.

                Hasta luego!

The Far de Sant Sebastia.This 19th century lighthouse has fantastic views out to sea, 
Photo by Paula