L'Escala

Last night we ate in the restaurant of the hotel. It was very quiet with just two other couples dining.

The hotel grows its own vegetables and the menu is always imaginative. We had the menu of the day, leek soup with bacon,St Peter's fish with artichokes and then a chocolate mousse for Pat and salt cod salad, hare risotto and a sort of thick french toast for John, delicious!

We were sitting by the window, looking out over the Rosas bay.



After dinner, we retired to our room and slept to the sound of the waves lapping on the shore.

There were at least 3 other couples at our late and leisurely breakfast. We enjoyed croissants, pan con tomato, fresh orange juice, Spanish hams and cheeses.

The wind had dropped a little and so the sea was calmer. We walked along the beach towards St Marti D'Empuries just along the coast. St Marti is said the be the oldest settlement in Catalonia and has a very interesting wall which we understand was the wall of a roman harbour.




We had a brief wander through St Marti. It is a small village with a large church and lots of restaurants that are open in the season.









After that, we continued down the coast, across the small river




then on to the 10 mile long beach on the other side where we were the only people. We saw a number of holiday villages and could imagine that, in the summer, the beach would be full of people, but just at the moment the beach bears a closer resemblance to the Sahara as the wind had created mini dunes across the beach.




The holiday villages are ghost towns; this one is called the Club Mistral and it does look as though a strong wind has hit it. I expect that it won't be long before the flags are replaced and the village will be ready for visitors.




From this point, all that was in front of us was deserted beach, so we turned back and headed along the footpath back to our hotel. We passed the Greek and Roman ruins of Empuries on the way. We didn't call in this time, having visited before.



At the hotel, we stopped for a cup of tea and a warm up in the lounge and read for a while before setting off in the opposite direction for a late lunch in the tapas bar in L'Escala. The wind had increased by now and the waves had white tips, but the magnificent view of the mountains was hiding behind cloud.

In the evening, we ate another delicious meal in the hotel restaurant: brandade of cod with a fresh pea sauce, pasta with Spanish ham and a strawberry dessert for Pat and a goats cheese salad, cod and artichoke and a delicious lemon yoghurt mousse for John.

After dinner we retired to tea in the lounge and chatted to another guest who is Belgian. She has a villa in Turkey as well as a large isolated Mas in France, near to Fitou, which is currently for sale. Her agent for the sale is Graham Brown, who acted as our agent when we bought our house in France.

Pat and John on tour