May 2025 – DJmotortouring

Oropesa (Catalonia), Spain April 2025 (Tour 11)

The good weather just south of Madrid was holding out and Toledo in Castilla-La Manche remained our next objective but, we didn’t need to hurry. We decided to spend another night on the Mediterranean coast, albeit a little further to the south in Valencia Region, and then look for a hotel halfway between the coast and Toledo so as to spoil ourselves for a couple of days. It has long been our practise to book into a hotel every three weeks and, anyway, Toledo could wait.

We stopped for just the one night at the small tourist town of Oropesa del Mar. We stopped for no other reason than that I’d had enough of driving and because there’s a small but popular campsite (Camping Voramar) close to the town’s principal beach, Playa de la Concha, offering all the facilities we would need. Shortly after arriving we heard from an old friend and work colleague who tried to warn us off Oropesa, saying the place was overrun with Russians of the worst kind but, honestly, we didn’t see anything of the sort. The town was full of Spanish holidaymakers who were clearly out for a good time and they were nothing other than friendly to us.

In terms of things to see or do, there’s the old Moorish Castle of Oropesa de Mar. It’s a ruin for the most part (and an ugly one at that) but there’s no charge for entry and the views over the town and along the coast are not bad. Close by is the town’s principal church, the Chapel of Our Lady of Patience. I couldn’t gain access to the church (too late in the day) but I’ve seen some very impressive photos of the inside and much of it is decorated with some stunning 18th century Alcora tiles. Beautiful.

I wandered the old town for a while and pretty much had it to myself. It was siesta time and, as I said before, the town was full of Spanish holidaymakers and you’ll not see them during siesta. I walked most of the old town, going as far north as the Plaza d’Espana, and then made my way back to the Playa de la Concha via the lighthouse (the Faro de Oropesa del Mar) which was still inhabited until 2013 (and is still working, I think) and; the King’s Tower (the Torre del Rey) which was built in 1413 to help defend the town against pirates an Saracens. Both buildings were closed as I passed but, outside of siesta, it is possible to enter the tower.

Not sure why I took this photo, but I had to remove a lot of rubbish beforehand

We had a pleasant evening in Oropesa del Mar, sitting outside the Temple Bar on the Avinguda del Faro. It claims to be an Irish Bar and isn’t in the least Irish but, it was lively enough to keep us amused for a couple of hours.

Would we visit Oropesa del Mar again? It’s a pleasant enough place to spend a night and Camping Voramar is so well placed from which to explore the town but methinks it is too touristy. There are so many hotels, I imagine the beaches will be packed solid during high season. No, I’d use the campsite as a stopover out of season but, during the summer or if I wanted to stay somewhere on the coast in this area (Castellon Province) for any longer than a day, I’d much prefer Peniscola just 30 miles to the north.

L’Ametlla de Mar (Catalonia), Spain April 2025 (Tour 11)

We returned to L’Ametlla de Mar.

We were here just a few months ago, during Tour 10, and enjoyed it so much that we stayed for three nights. Rather than risk repeating myself too much, if it’s a brief description of the town and it’s principal attractions that you want, you should read my earlier blog on the place. I will say however that Vanya and I were very pleased to be back. The town doesn’t have a great many tourist attractions but; there are plenty of other places in Catalonia that do, if that is what you want. No, L’Ametlla de Mar remains a friendly Spanish fishing village at heart with a genuine and honest feel about it. It is a nice place; a place to absorb Spain.

We noticed a few changes about L’Ametlla during this our second visit but; nothing detrimental. The Nautica remains a recommended campsite but even more so now that they have cleaned up the small beach of Playa Pixavaques. Vanya actually used the beach for some sunbathing this tour although the water was far to cold for her to contemplate swimming. The company down by the harbour offering Tuna Tours is still operating and I am keen to give that a go but not in April. I don’t like cold water either.

Needless to say, we returned to Bar Pica Pica which, despite a change of bar staff, was as welcoming (and busy) as ever. The bar does not do good tapas and yet it’s tables on Placa Nova are invariably filled with locals. We got to talking with a very pleasant couple, a local man who spoke fervently about L’Ametlla and the surrounding area (and with whom Vanya was able to practise her Spanish) and his partner from Stuttgart (with whom I was able to practise my German). We also tried a couple of different restaurants this time around and weren’t disappointed. One was the Restaurant-Bar Nino on Carrer de Sant Joan (another bar very popular with the locals) but, sadly, I cannot remember the name of the other one which actually did the better food (too much wine).

L’Ametlla’s street art continues to flourish. Indeed, I found a new one and the town is now promoting them as an ‘urban art festival’ and has produced a map to help visitors search them out.

Yes, we stayed another three days and enjoyed the place just as much as before. We’ll be back again.

Palamos (Catalonia), Spain

From the Cap de Creus we thought to chase the sunshine, most of which seemed to be well south of Madrid. Toledo looked a good choice but we’d not rush there because the weather forecasts seemed to be changing every day. Our next stop was to be an old favourite, the Nautica Campsite in L’Ametlla de Mar. However, with one thing and another, we were late getting away and so paused for the night at another small town on our way to L’Ametlla called Palamos.

Palamos competes with L’Ametlla de Mar in claiming to be one of the few remaining authentic fishing towns on the Catalonian coast (it certainly has the largest fishing fleet on the Costa Brava) but, I was very disappointed with the place. It appeared to me more like a beach resort (albeit a nice beach resort) and I reported as much on my facebook entry for that day. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

From what I’ve read since, I missed a few things in Palamos which could have caused me to think differently had I seen them. It was an impromptu decision to overnight in Palamos and, in my defence, we were running late but; had I properly researched the place before charging off into the town for a look-see, I think my facebook entry would have been considerably more positive. Sorry Palamos.

I won’t bore you with the detail as to how I went wrong. It will suffice to say that I ended up chasing my own tail and missed much of the town. I don’t know how but, I failed to find the historic old with it’s narrow cobbled streets and small squares and, of course, it’s many restaurants selling the famous Palamos Prawn. For future reference, the old town is situated behind the town’s main beach (the Platje Gran de Palamos) which I thought was nothing but a residential area. Of course I found the harbour, walked the length of the town’s very long mole and noticed the Fishing Museum but didn’t go in and so missed out on a free cooking lesson – entrance is free on the first Sunday of every month! And finally, because I’m getting increasingly embarrassed now, I found a tiny but very tidy, sandy beach to the north of the town (complete with a ruined castle) known as the Platje de la Fosca but; had I continued northwards, beyond the ruined castle, I would have come upon an even prettier beach (the Platje de Castella) and, beyond that, the not to be missed tiny Fishermen’s Hamlet of Cala S’Alguer. I could go on but… spare me!

We will return and next time, I’ll not miss out on the old town, restaurants selling Palamos Prawns, the Platje de Castella, the Sant Esteve de Mar Castle and, especially Cala S’Alguer. Neither will I overlook the 15th century church of Santa Maria, the Mirador del Pedro, the Emporda DO wine route (to say nothing of the celebrated Camino de Ronda – especially the 11 kilometre stretch between Palamos and Calella de Palafrugall). I suspect there is more that I missed but that will do for now.

Cap de Creus (Catalonia), Spain

Of all the places along Spain’s eastern coastline, the one I have most wanted to see is the Cap de Creus and now, I’ve seen it.

We drove to Cadaques for a couple of days and that allowed me one full day to wander the Cap de Creus. The Cap de Creus is a nature park and marine reserve which opened in 1996 and almost fills a small peninsula on the north coast of Catalonia. At it’s western end it stretches between the two small resort towns of El Port de la Selva in the north and Roses in the south. It’s most easterly point is the Far del Cap de Creus (lighthouse) which also happens to be the most easterly point of the whole Iberian Peninsula.

It is truly beautiful and makes for some great walking but, it is not the wild and remote nature park that some blog writers would have you believe. It covers less than 17,000 hectares of land and sea; is criss-crossed with numerous well marked paths and; can be walked from one end to the other in just a few hours. That is positively tiny when compared with, say, the Cairngorms National Park which totals 452,800 hectares of often rough and very demanding mountainous terrain. There’s a road (the Gi 614) which connects El Port de la Selva and Roses with the lighthouse and; it is a 20 minute drive from Roses to the lighthouse, with tourist buses plying that route in the high season. Oh, and at the Far del Cap de Creus there’s a large car park, a restaurant with limited overnight accommodation, a cafe-bar and an esplanade offering wonderful views out to sea. No, there’s very little about the Cap de Creus that is wild and remote but don’t let that stop you visiting the place. It does have some spectacular scenery.

My walk to the lighthouse began from the Wecamp Campsite in Cadaques. You must follow the road to start with. It leads past the Hermitage of San Baldiri and on to Salvador Dali’s old house in PortLligat but after PortLligat you can leave the road and follow a series of coastal trails all the way to the lighthouse. The one I took takes you along past the pretty beaches of S’Alqueria Gran and S’Alqueria Petite and then around the even prettier beaches of the Badia Guillola. It’s not hard walking (young children can easily handle the trail) but gradually the beaches give way to a more rugged landscape. There are very few trees; it is more scrub vegetation than anything but the lack of trees facilitates sweeping views along an increasingly jagged coastline of small cliffs, rocky coves and tiny islands. The sea is crystal clear.

My first sighting of Far del Cap de Creus

I knew I was close to the lighthouse when I started seeing small groups of people. I’d not seen a single person during the 2 hours or so that I had been walking and taking photographs but there were plenty of people milling around the lighthouse. There were a dozen or so boats moored in the cove to the south of the lighthouse and a coach (probably from Roses) pulled up as I reached the cafe-bar. My first priority was a couple of cold beers and I promise you the first one didn’t touch the sides of my throat – I drank it so quickly.

The lighthouse was built in 1853 and is the second oldest in Spain. It’s a rather average looking lighthouse and there’s little else I can say about it except that it featured in the 1971 film ‘Lighthouse At The End Of The World’, starring Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner. No, I’ve never heard of the film either.

There’s a track near the lighthouse which leads down to the ‘Cova del Infern’ (the Cave of Hell). It’s a tunnel eroded by the sea and best viewed, I suspect, by boat. I didn’t bother with it. I didn’t bother with the unusual looking restaurant either (there were too many people there, queuing to get in) but I subsequently discovered that the restaurant is a converted police barracks. After taking a obligatory photos of the various buildings, I set off to explore the coastline to the north of the lighthouse.

I think the coastline to the north of the peninsula (especially around the Pareja de Tudela) is, by a long way, the most interesting. There’s more exposed lava rock to the north of the lighthouse and the artea is considerably more rugged. Erosion caused by the sea and, in all likelihood, the tramuntana winds which blow down from the Pyrenees has made this part of the cape nothing less than fascinating. This is an area that intrigued Salvador Dali. He often walked the area, seemingly obsessed with the strange rock formations with names like the Camel, the Eagle and the Rabbit and; it is said that at least one of his paintings, ‘The Great Masturbator’ was inspired by one or more of these rock formations.

There are countless interesting rock formations…

I’ll end this blog with one more anecdote about the Pareja de Tudela area and then leave you with my favourite photo from the area to the north of the lighthouse.

I’ll finish this blog entry with one more anecdote about the Pareja de Tudela area. Between 1964 and 2004, this part of the coastline was owned by Club Med and they built a huge and very successful holiday complex here. There’s very little left of it now. After the Spanish government decided the peninsula was to become a national park and marine reserve, Club Med were on notice to leave. Once the complex was closed, a decision was made to totally dismantle it and; in 2009 some 430 buildings were levelled and removed. Even garden flowers planted by Club Med were uprooted and disposed of if they were not indigenous to the area. Wonderful.

Cadaques (Catalonia), Spain April 2025 (Tour 11)

I’ve long wanted to visit the Costa Brava town of Cadaques (and the Cap de Creus National Park) but the single road in and out of Cadaques has been restricted to just motorbikes and cars. That changed late last year and motorhomes may now use the road. It was a no brainer where we would be going once we crossed into Spain. We booked ourselves into ‘Wecamp Cadaques’ for the two nights that I thought would allow us sufficient time to experience the small town of Cadaques and give me the opportunity to explore some of the Cap de Creus National Park. I thought a hike to and from the Far de Cap de Creus would do the trick – that’s the lighthouse.

Cadaques is one of the more picturesque towns I have visited in my time – a jumble of steep cobbled alleys and whitewashed houses over which the 17th century Santa Maria Church presides. It has changed over the years; fishing has slowly given way to tourism (we were told that just three fishermen in Cadaques are now licensed to fish on a commercial basis) but that is to be expected in a town with the pulling power of this one – Salvador Dali – and it’s general inaccessibility has ensured it is not at all tacky.

Cadaques is most famous for being where the Surrealist artist Salvador Dali and his wife Gali lived. They bought a house on the water’s edge in the PortLligat area in 1930, just a stones throw from Wecamp Cadaques and he lived and worked there until his wife died in 1982. The house has been left very much as it was when they both lived there (complete with unfinished canvases and the paintbrushes he was using) and now serves as a museum. It has been described as “weird and wacky” (as is expected of someone like Dali) but the Salvador Dali House Museum draws thousands of visitors throughout the year. It has also served to draw numerous other artists to the town and there are plenty of art galleries, workshops and craft stores dotted around the place.

The Santa Maria Church on the tiny Plaza de la Iglesia is a must see; if not for the pretty church itself, for the panoramic view over the southern side of the town and it’s coastline. There are numerous pretty coves and beaches to the north and south of the town. The Playas des Llaner Gran i Petit are the two in the town itself.

Cadaques is also home to the Michelin Recommended Compartir Restaurant (I think I mentioned that in a Roses blog?) but we weren’t inclined to try it. There were enough other good restaurants in Cadaques and they weren’t charging anywhere near as much as Compartir.

One of the two days we spent in Cadaques was Sant Jordi’s Day – that’s Saint George’s Day in England. Sant Jordi’s Day is also the Catalan holiday of ‘Books and Roses’ which is not unlike our Saint Valentine’s Day except that in Catalonia, men buy women roses and the women buy men a book. I’m not entirely sure of the significance of the book but, judging by some of the book covers on the stalls of an impromptu market that day (three stalls selling roses and three stores selling books), it could be that the women buy the men a book with a view towards educating their man about a woman’s particular wants and needs…

Our last night in Cadaques was special. We sat for many hours outside a tiny, very friendly restaurant across the bay from the centre of the town… drinking the local wine, eating tapas, talking and watching Cadaques change as night came on.

I’ll walk Cap de Creus in the morning…