Final day of the holiday. Drove about an hour to the ancient town of Besalu. Pleasant wander around the medieval streets. Impressive bridge from around 1000 AD.
We drove then to Banyoles for a pleasant walk of 4 miles around the lake. Seemed like a very pleasant town.
Not much else to see in Figueres apart from the Dali Museum and the town lacked the pleasant vibe of Gerona and other smaller towns in the area.
We didn't much enjoy the Dali museum either. It maybe had its time and we had our time when we liked that sort of thing. Not much by way of interpretation in the gallery/museum.
The cake shops were good though :)
A longish drive of 1 hr 15 mins to Blanes to visit the Botanic Garden which we have been to a couple of times in the distant past. Blanes much bigger than I remember it with a long seaside esplanade.
Went for a longer run this morning along the shore into L'Estartit and then along the tops of the hills above the town.
First stop was the small medieval town of Pals not too far from our house. This had a very well preserved and attractive centre with tower, castle and church and 10 marked points to visit. After and hour or so we stopped for a late morning coffee.
With the wind still blowing we decided a town would provide some shelter. A nice walk around the town with a visit to the Cathedral and another church. A very nice vibe to the town with pedestrian ancient centre. Lots of runners and cyclists in the morning.
Cherry had left her phone behind at the bird reserve so we set out early and thankfully recovered it at opening time. From there we drove onwards to a very dead Roses for morning coffee and snack.
A hill drive then to Cadaques. Colin had a nice walk along the coast while Cherry spend some time sketching. A very pretty town. A nice traditional lunch of anchovies/salad, paella, crema catalana/ice cream.
We drove on in the afternoon to Port Lligat to the home of Salvador Dali where he lived for 40 years. It was closed for a month unfortunately but nice to see the location.
Onwards further to Cabo de Creus. A wild and windswept area the most easterly point in mainland Spain. The wind was howling a gale so we could barely stand. Welcome cups of tea in the restaurant before a long twisty drive home.
Today was a bird watching day. In the morning we walking from our house through the local nature reserve to the mouth of the River Ter. Not too many birds on view but a nice landscape.
Lunch at home and then a drive to the Aiguamolls de Emporda nature reserve. At the first hide there were a lot of ducks, flamingo, stork & heron on view.
We spotted some wild deer and at the far end climbed to the top of a former grain store for good views over the surrounding flatlands with mountains in the distance.
On the way back there was a loose herd of cattle on the path back. We assume they were escaped rather than being herded somewhere.
We headed to L'Escala to look for dinner but couldn't find anywhere open so headed home to cook again.
It was around 30 mins drive to the Greek and Roman ruins at Empuries. We had a good wander round listening to the commentary and visiting the museum. A nice spot in a great location.
We stopped for a really excellent little lunch at the outside bar of the very nice looking Hostal Empuries. Pork loins with figs and pine nuts followed by a traditional cheesecake and coffee.
We wandered along a very nice coastal path to the ancient village of Sant Marti D'Empuries which was very pretty in a great location looking over the Bay of Roses.
We walked back past the roman remains towards L'Escala but didn't make it all the way there.
We drove into L'Estartit and from there did a challenging coastal walk. The town was exceptionally quiet with not much open at present in the very off season. The quiet is very pleasant though with little traffic, easy parking and everything feeling very relaxed and laid back. The walk went to Cala Calella and to Puerto de El Falaguer before heading inland and then back to town.
On return we found some tapas and coffee just before an early closing time.
We had an early 7.15 am flight with Ryanair to Barcelona. Whilst there was nothing to love about Ryanair's performance the journey was generally fine apart from a roughly 1 hour delay.
We hired a car from the airport and then drove around 2 hrs to our rural house near L'Estartit. A nice rural Eco House off the electric grid but powered by solar panels and heated by gas canister. Bigger than we need but very nice apart from the ants which seem hard to escape even in winter.
We arrived at the house around 3 pm and went for a walk to the beach and towards L'Estartit. Clear blue skies and temperature around 17C in stark contrast to the freezing Edinburgh weather. Shopping at Lidl and cooking in the house for dinner which we expect to do every evening.
Unfortunately a cold/flu went through the family over the holiday period. Colin was snuffly and unable to take part in athletic activities from Boxing Day through to 6 January. Everyone was out of action to some extent for a short while.
