This is our second week home after taking an amazing trip to Costa Brava and Barcelona in Spain! For those of you that don’t know, Barry and I are huge travel bugs, and we especially love Europe! We like to hunker down in one area, and explore the heck out of it. This was our third trip to Europe- the first being Tuscany, Italy, and the second being the Rhone Valley in France. Spain proved to be equally amazing as the first two countries, and had so many unique characteristics to it that set it apart from Italy and France.
We choose to stay in two cities along the coast of Spain- the first in Calella de Palafrugell (at Casa Dos Torres) and the second in Begur (at Hotel Galena Mas Comengau.) Both cities had so much character, and same with both of our accommodation sites! While we were on the coast, we also visited medieval cities, attended a nighttime craft and music festival, swam in the Mediterranean, toured wineries, and ate a lot of gazpacho and paella.
Then we hopped to Barcelona, where we stayed at a lovely Airbnb, and saw quite of few of Gaudí’s architectural masterpieces, ate like a local in a gentrified neighborhood that specializes in tapas, toured La Rambla, and experienced a huge indoor food market.
The blog Part I today focuses on our time at Costa Brava, and the blog Part II tomorrow will focus on our time in Barcelona.
Also, to see the blog post from our trip to France a few years ago, click here!
Calella de Palafrugell
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The town where we stayed the first few nights- Calella de Palafrugell
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Our accommodations at Casa Dos Torres- the sitting room leading into the hallway where our bedroom was
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Our outdoor breakfast table at Casa Dos Torres
Hiking Costa Brava
We hiked through the hills and across varying terrain from the coastal town of Calella de Palafrugell to the coastal town of Taramiu. There were beautiful towns and secluded beaches as stops along the way! My favorite part of the hike was watching the speed boats on the ocean as we climbed up the hills- these boats silently flew through the turquoise Mediterranean from cove to cove, searching for the next beach to set anchor.
To view the hiking guide we used, click here
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The start of our hike
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Nearing the first beach town Llafranc
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Down into Llafranc
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Up the mountain and the other side of Llafranc…
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A restaurant and hotel at Sant Sebastiá de la Guarda
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The Iberian settlement of Sant Sebastiá de la Guarda. A watchtower from the 15th century was built here.
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The speedboats were silent from up top! It was beautiful to watch them streaking across the sea.
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The terrain inland
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The secluded beach of Cala Pedrosa- only accessible by foot or boat
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The pebbly beach of Cala Pedrosa
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The five table restaurant at Cala Pedrosa- we stopped here for calamari among the locals
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Just random houses with a built-in ocean view along the hike…
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Final beach town on he hike, Tamariu
Favorite Views in Calella de Palafrugell
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Toasting our 9th anniversary. Our favorite view of Calella de Palafrugell from 3 Pins.
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The view from 3 Pins. I honestly don’t think it gets any better than this.
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A view looking at 3 Pins
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Their version of a boardwalk- it isn’t shops but restaurants…
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Dinner that same night. My guy!
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Our view that night at dinner
Begur
After our stay in Calella de Palafrugell, we traveled to the town of Begur. Below is our accommodation in Begur called Hotel Galena Mas Comangau.
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Hotel Galena Mas Comangau in Begur. Our room’s patio and doorway was all the way at the bottom left of this picture.
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Just a portion of the charm at Hotel Galena Mas Comangau
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Gelato stores were everywhere! Here is me in Begur before we hike up the hill to Begur’s castle.
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Hiking up to the castle in Begur (it was so windy!)
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At the top of the castle, which didn’t really look like a castle but the view was amazing. I clearly wasn’t ready for this photo and distracted by the wind!
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Every Saturday at 10PM, a band plays near the church in Begur.
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Locals slowly start to come together and dance while the band plays. It is a dance of tradition!
Winery visits
We visited three wineries, and had private tours at two of them! The wine and olive oil from this region (the region is otherwise known as Catalonia) is out of this world!
Winery Mas Oller
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The tasting room at Mas Oller
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The olive oil from Catalonia is better than what we had in Italy (and that is hard to beat!)
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Since GPS doesn’t pick up Celler Mas Eugeni’s location, the owner of the winery, Martí, met us at a local Aldi in his red Suzuki jeep and led us to his winery!
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Where we tasted wine. The owner, Martí, brought out a box of wine and said “try as much as you want!”
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Barry with the owner, Martí, and his father. Sweetest guys ever!
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So maybe we brought some of this home…
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This is a cork tree that is grown on the property of Celler Mas Eugeni. You can see where they take the bark from the tree to make wine corks. This bark grows back every 5 years.
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The view of Celler Mas Eugeni from the vineyards
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Inside the winery B&B- can we have a renewal of vows here please?!
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Metal from Naval ships was used to line the walkway of this underground winery!
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Underground at the winery. Slits in the ground above gave light to this meeting room at the winery!
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The underground stairway
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Medieval towns visited in the region…
Pals
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Heading into the medieval town of Pals…
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A ceramic store in Pals
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Right outside of Pals- it is like a normal town!
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You’ve never eaten a better tomato than from Catalonia. Rosé was had just about at every meal, too.
Peratallada
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On to Peratallada, one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in Catalonia.
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Me doing what I do best…
White Summer Festival
We were lucky to be visiting during a White Summer festival outside of the medieval town of Pals. There were food trucks galore, and tons of store fronts set up for artists to sell their crafts. From textiles, to clothing, to jewelry, it was a feast for your eyes (and your wallet.)
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The atmosphere at the White Summer festival was so charming! I love the strung lights and the field of pink flags!
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That’s all for today’s post- Our Trip to Spain Part I! Be on the lookout in the next few days for Part II, which you will see pictures from our visit to Barcelona!