It was Chaucer who said time and tide wait for no man but I’m just going to truncate that slightly as I like the first half and it kind of fits for what I’m looking for.
I may have mentioned before that we´re spending more time away from Girona up on the coast, namely the seaside resort of L’Escala. I’ve written about its many charms and the various beaches here in past posts.
The Costa Brava is peppered with a plethora of fine beaches and the various towns and villages that cling to them symbiotically.
Our Catalan friends in Girona all have their own favourites, of course. One in particular, St. Antoni de Calonge is like Girona-by-the-sea. The real charms here are the fine sandy beach and the beachfront path that’s largely pedestrianised.
Here you can find a coterie of bars and restaurants to suit all pockets. The rest, meaning its interior is pretty unremarkable.
Almost every time we visit we seem to bump into someone we know from Girona. Not blighted by any high rise developments its three small bays are strung out along an elongated coastal path that snakes its way to Palamos the next town, larger and livelier.
Compact and still retaining a largely Catalan feel, it’s not going to wow those of you looking for somewhere with a pulse. Better head to nearby Playa d´Aro for plentiful nocturnal fun. It attracts both the local and tourist youths in droves so its central parts get quite boisterous and noisy during summer time.
Its popularity persists even off season as shops here are open on Sundays (but not in Girona) attracting Gironians for a spot of weekend shopping. There’s certainly more of a commercial feel to the place coupled with a much larger choice of dining options.
Another local coastal bolthole is probably the nearest in mileage terms from Girona, St Feliu de Guixols. Again it’s another one of these places where the good bits are along the beachfront and a few of the bigger plazas and streets that pierce its interior.
A fair size working town which leaves you with the impression that it has seen better days. A forlorn former grandeur that is sad and chic in equal measure.The beach is sweet, well served with chiringuito bars and it hosts an annual long running summer music festival, Porta Ferrada. It gets some big names, we saw Simple Minds here last year.
If you feel a bit flushed you’d probably go for a pad in nearby upmarket S’Agaro. Two beaches of note here are St Pol and Sa Conca, popular with weekenders all year round, who frequent the beachfront eateries ( Sa Conca only has a seasonal beach bar). A perennial favourite of ours it could have easily been chosen as a film location for a Californian hipster movie.
Off season all of these Costa Brava coastal locations vary in the degree of emptiness. Let’s give it a score then. I was lucky (or unlucky-depends how you look at it) to have spent winter months in Estartit. I’d be generous if it hovered between 2 and 3. I recently went through the Playa de Pals neighbourhood, which resembles a post-apocalyptic town where everyones dead but the buildings have remained. No a living soul around.
Our Catalan friends and neighbours from Girona look genuinely perplexed and puzzled at us living on the coast outside the usual summer months. They reiterate the quietness and loneliness of such a decision.
