Costa Brava 1
Friday December 31, 2021
Marc picked me up from Barcelona airport and we had lunch down by La Barceloneta before heading out to Girona and Costa Brava. Girona has a really cool aesthetic with these narrow streets down by the river, and the Christmas lights are still decorating every alley and bridge that crosses the river. We walked around the walls of the cathedral and castle before heading to the shopping district where I bought some of the local specialities, and then we had dinner at the proper Spanish time of 10pm. After dinner, we headed to Marc’s holiday apartment in L’Estartit.
We had a late start the next day just to keep things casual. As we were grabbing breakfast, I was shocked to see a window with a New Zealand flag and a silver fern flag being proudly displayed, especially since it feels like we’re quite far away from a major city. I had to find out why. I gathered all my courage and broke through my internalised introvert programming and knocked on the door. A man answered with a very confused face and I asked why there was a New Zealand flag in the window, and his whole expression changed to a beaming smile as he said “because I’m a New Zealander!” We proceeded to have a yarn about New Zealand for 15 minutes, it was awesome just hearing another Kiwi accent, and really sweet to be able to talk naturally after so long. Turns out him and his wife moved from the UK about a year ago because of Brexit and now live and work in Costa Brava, and they’re friends with another Kiwi who runs a brewery down the road.
We drove to Cadaques and wandered around the coastline before heading over to Salvador Dali’s house in the evening. The scenery is absolutely beautiful in that area, and as the sun set, the clouds turned a stunning golden orange and pink colour that reflected in the water.
On the way to dinner, we stopped by some old Romanesque fortifications and then an old town called Monells with an empty town square that had a “tio” log, and ended up in La Bisbal for an excellent meal.
Today we were up early to go to Begur, slightly to the south, to take advantage of the glorious warm weather and see the intense blue colours of the Mediterranean Sea against the coast of Catalonia. From Begur we went to El Port de la Selva, and then up the hillside to an old monastery from the 8th century called Sant Pere de Rodes. It was honestly the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen on the Iberian peninsula, it was a full panoramic scene to both the north and the south, where the Pyrenees meet the sea.
Since we were so far north, we decided to hop over to Perpignan in France, a mere hour’s drive away. The city is small but festive with all the Christmas lights still on display. What’s interesting is that the signs are in both French and Catalan. We got some “maxi beignets” filled with Nutella and headed back to Catalonia for dinner. We ended up in Figueres, where the Salvador Dali museum is, and opted for a nice meal close by as well.
It’s been a busy couple of days but the scenery has blown me away. 2022 is fast approaching and I’m honestly so glad to be here, wearing a tank top and getting a sun tan, instead of being miserable at home and in -10C weather.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:08am on Friday December 31, 2021 :: 0 comments :: 