Exploring beautiful coast of Palamos, Llafranc and Calella de Palafrugell

Palamos beach

in Palamos port

The day before I attended TBEX in Girona, I was one of the bloggers on the pre-TBEX trip to Fisherman villages. The bus took us from Girona to Palamos town where we first visited Espai del Peix situated just next to the Museu de la Pesca (Fish Museum) in the port.

bloggers in Espai del Peix

Joan and his friend cooking in Espai del Peix

tasting caballa en escabeche Espai del Peix

There, after seeing a short video, Joan Cuadrat Sarrinat, the chef, showed us how to cook caballa en escabeche. Together with his friend they prepared us fish in a traditional local way. I was more than happy to get some food as didn’t eat much for breakfast when I left Barcelona early to get to Girona before 8.30 am.

Check out the video to find out how they made it:

Then, after tasting it and guys trying to learn how to drink wine the crazy way Joan showed them, we walked around the port. We made 2 groups and jumped on a boat. I was on the boat Pepa Bandera II which was built i Bilbao in 1985. I really love sailing! You know it if you ever read about me

Pepa Bandera II boat waiting for us

sailing

One hour we sailed around the coast of Costa Brava but unfortunately because of the big waves and wind we could not go further as planned and had to come back to Palamos. There was also a guy from TVE shooting us for the tv news. You can find the video where we appeared on TVE news there down in the Mentions section.

on Pepa Bandera II

other half of the bloggers

In the end, we got to Llafranc by bus. Llafranc is one of those cute little coastal towns whose beauty leaves you breathless. To be honest, I never heard of this place before. But I fell in love with the coast here after just a few minutes.

Llafranc beach

We walked along the beach and then took the coastal path camino de ronda to Calella de Palafrugell. The path was a bit up the stairs and then down the hill and then again up – the best exercise before a huge lunch! The views of the rocky Costa Brava coast with sandy beaches, boats and seagulls on a sunny day? Definitely my thing!

Llafranc coast

I really wanted to pass the whole day there, just observing every detail of the blue sea contrasting with the green coast and also every single movement that happened along the coast.

reaching Calella de Palafrugell

peaceful beach of Calella de Palafrugell

But we slowly got to Calella de Palafrugell and its Canadell beach where we spotted beautiful big villas along the main coastal street Carrer de Miramar.

Carrer de Miramar

The colourful villas are at first sight not traditional Spanish houses. And they are really not as they were built by those Spaniards who left to the West Indies (mostly to Cuba) and came back to Spain rich. Their villas reflect the Cuban influence not only with its colours, but also the whole architecture and style. Another interesting fact about these houses is that they have a gate at the beach (also a colourful one) that used to serve as parking for their boats.

Cuban houses in Calella de Palafrugell

boat gates at the beach of Calella de Palafrugell

Calella de Palafrugell

Then we walked a little bit more behind the corner and entered Hotel Sant Roc restaurant where they were waiting for us with delicious long lunch. It was one of the traditional Spanish way to have a lunch – later in the afternoon around 3 pm, with a salad and sea food as a starter, main dish (seafood paella, arroz caldoso, fideu or fish), wine, water, a dessert and a coffee. Yummy! The restaurant has a great view of the coast which you can enjoy in between the meals

paella and arroz caldoso in Hotel Sant Roc

my fish, rice and vegetables

dessert in Hotel Sant Roc

This trip was a press trip organized by Costa Brava tourism board. All the thoughts in the article are just my own as usual. For more information, please visit Ajuntament de Palamós, Ajuntament de Palafrugell, Tela marinera and Pepa Bandera for sailing, and also Hotel Sant Roc. Many thanks to all those who participated in organizing this trip.