Exploring beautiful coast of Palamos, Llafranc and Calella de Palafrugell
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
We sailed around the coast of Costa Brava for an hour 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.
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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Comment@ Shamis @ Gawaya Travel Blog:
Thanks Shamis! It was a lovely day, yes!
Shamis
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Caballa en escabeche, fish dish and the dessert looks delicious. Looks like you had a great time there.
Melly Schug
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Sounds like you are having so much fun in Palamos. Those pictures above are all great and wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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Comment@ Larissa:
We cannot have everything, right? I am happy I took this trip instead of Barcelona though as been to Barcelona so many times already but this was new to me :)
Larissa
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How cute are those gates! Love the colors. Kind of bummed I didn’t go on this pre-trip. Had signed up for the Figueres one but had to cancel at the last minute. Wanted to stay in Barcelona longer with my fellow gypsies :)
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
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Comment@ lola:
Thanks honey :) miss you too! xxx
lola
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your photos are gorgeous as always Alex! that paella makes me so hungry and miss Spain. i miss you too!! :) xoxo