Costa Brava Tourist Guide

Posts Tagged ‘Catalunya’

El Port de la Selva is a seaside village in the comarca of the Alt Empordà in Catalonia, Spain.

Overlooking a bay by the same name, the village is situated on the northern coast of the Cap de Creus and is an important fishing port and tourist center.

A Costa Brava photo souvenir book, available at shops in all the tourist districts up and down the coast says it’s the only natural harbor in this area,

for in this part of the coastline the mountain masses drop drown to the sea in sheer cliffs, majestically impressive and rugged, forming de Cap de Creus with the islands of Massa d’Oros and L’Encalladora before them.

Then there are Isla Culleró, Punta de Moli, Isla Poraló, Punta dels Farrallons, Penyas Roges, Cap Gros, Punta Blanca, Punta de la Creu and many other steep rocks and islets.

In the midst of all this ruggedness — remember, Costa Brava means ‘Wild Coast’ — El Port de la Selva is a haven of calm.

You guessed it: El Port de la Selva started life as a fishing village, but the fishersmen from this part of the coast have for centuries lived in the village of Selva de Mar — three kilometers inland — where they alternated fishing with farming activities. Port de la Selva developed from this village.

Fishing is still the village’s main source of income, but tourism also brings in a lot of money.

El Port de las Selva is popular with wealthy Barcelonians, and — owing in part to its proximity to the border — to visitors from France as well.

The population of about 1.000 people is swelled in the summer months by tourists, many of whom return so often than they have bought a house or apartment here.

Beaches

Platja Perabeua is a nice, pebble-stone beach in a natural setting of rocks and cliffs. The sand is clean and the blue water is crystal clear.

Some houses and tents are visible, but there are no amenities. Bring a picnic basket.

The beach can only be reached on foot and is somewhat of a climb down and later back up again. No lifeguards, no first aid post, and no toilets available.

The main beach of El Port de la Selva fronts the village. The clean beach consists of a mixture of fine sand and pebbles.

This beach includes a wide range of amenities and facilities. It is popular with wind surfers, and has on offer boat tours, jet skis, and para-sailing.

First aid post, toilets and showers are available.

This blue flag beach has plenty of nearby shops.

The water at the beach is, for the most part, shallow making this an ideal beach for children.

Things to do

Aside from the usual beach activities, hiking in the area around town is very popular.

There are numerous historical sites to see.

Hotels

• Hotels in and near El Port de la Selva

Originally Llançà was divided between the original tenth-century settlement — built inland as a defense against pirates — and the harbor of Llançà.

However, the tourist boom brought lots of urban growth, and the village and harbor soon joined together to create one resort.

By all accounts this is still a relatively quiet town when compared with larger destinations such as Lloret de Mar or Playa D’Aro.

Yet during the summer months both the interior village, Llançà Vila, and the Puerto de Llançà are home to countless foreigners.

As with so many seaside resorts along the Costa Brava, Llançà originated as a fishing village.

The port area is flanked by Passeig Marítim — a modern boulevard that stretches along the beach, Platja del Port — and Carrer Castellar, where you’ll find many shops and restaurants.

The small Vila is centered around the Plaza Mayor, which is shaded by a huge plane tree — named, as in Colera, Arbre de Libertat (Tree of Liberty). The tree was planted in 1870 to commemorate freedom from the French.

The Beaches of Llançà

The coastline between Llançà and El Port de la Selva, a little further north, is not as rugged as in other places along the Costa Brava — but it is irregular and varied enough to awe tourists and locals alike with the same natural beauty that has drawn visitors for decades.

Llançà itself is blessed with an excellent range of small and quiet beaches and coves.

Watersports

Facts about Llançà

• Almost 5,000 people live yearround in the village of Llançà, which covers 28.625 km²

To be continued…

Catalonia, the English term for the Catalan Catalunya, is an Autonomous Community (Comunidad Autónoma) in Northeast Spain.

Its 32.000 km² is home to nearly 7.5 million people, and ranges from the sandy beaches via the wild cliffs of the Costa Brava to the slopes of the Pyrenees in the North.

Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, is considered one of Europe’s most beautiful cities.

The entire region attracts millions of tourists each year.

Political power in Spain is divided by a central government and 17 Autonomous Communities. “The autonomous communities have wide legislative and executive autonomy, with their own parliaments and regional governments,” Wikipedia writes, noting that these “regional governments are responsible for schools, universities, health, social services, culture, urban and rural development and, in some places, policing.”

In many ways, Catalonia is a country within its own rights, and there are plenty of Catalans who either want more autonomy or even outright independence from Spain.

See Also:
• Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) – Wikipedia
• Autonomous Communities of Spain – Wikipedia

Costa Brava Tourist Guide

This website, the Costa Brava Tourist Guide, will focus primarily on the seaside resorts along Catalonia’s Costa Brava, or Wild Coast.

Along the way we hope to share with you concise information about Catalonia — anything from its customs to its cuisine, and from its history and art to its folklore and language.

By the way, this is a labor of love, and we’ve only just started. If you’re looking for information that’s missing right now, just stay tuned and visit us again in a little while. New articles will be added on a regular basis, and current articles will be edited and updated as well.

CostaBravaTouristGuide.com — At the foot of the Pyrenees, hugging the dividing line between France and Spain, lies the small village of Portbou (1300+ inhabitants).

It is the last village of the Costa Brava, which starts some 100 kilometers down the coast at Blanes.

Portbou — which some guidebooks erroneously refer to as ‘Port Bou’ — is situated in the most mountainous area of the Costa Brava, and the closely-packed houses slope steeply up the valley from the waterfront.

Once one of those proverbial ’sleepy’ fishing villages, PortBou was transformed with the opening of an international railway station in 1878. It soon developed into a busy transport hub.

The train tunnel was joined by a road across the border, to the French port of Cerbère.

The peaceful bay has been called a ‘natural amphitheater.’ It shelters an uncrowded, and stunningly beautiful pebbled beach. Uncrowded because though Portbou has some hotels, a tourist office and other tourist facilities it is not (yet) a major tourist destination.

Yet, used to international travelers, Portbou is a hospitable village and an ideal place to spend a relaxing vacation — far away from the tourist trappings of the larger Costa Brava resorts further south.

Beaches

The main beach along the promenade is never crowded, even during the summer months. At times the shoreline is lined with fishing sloops.

There are even less crowded beaches up and down the coast, and some people half-seriously claim there’s a secluded beach or cove for everyone. Most can reached more or less easily on foot, while others are best approached by boat.

At the north of the main beach a footpath leads to Tres Platgetes — three small, white sand beaches. Further north the path, hugging the rocky shoreline, brings you to Platja del Pi, a small beach popular with nude bathers.

The water here is crystal clear and, among other things, perfectly suited to scuba diving.

Cala Bramat is also popular with nudists.

There’s a small harbor with fishing boats and small yachts.

Walther Benjamin

The German Jewish philosopher Walther Benjamin committed suicide in a Portbou hotel in 1940 rather than to be handed over to the Gestapo.

A memorial to him — created by Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan — overlooks the bay from its southern cliff.

It carries an inscription by Benjamin in five languages: “It is more arduous to honour the memory of the nameless than that of the renowned. Historical construction is devoted to the memory of the nameless.”
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