Joy of joys! An unspoilt fishing village which has not given way to tourism.
I’m not sure what made us choose L’Ametlla de Mar for a 2 day stopover. I suspect it was because Vanya was seeking another stop on the coast over the weekend (i.e. Friday and Saturday night). Even out of season, almost every campsite on the coast in Spain (and especially France) fill up at weekends, such is the popularity of motor homing these days. Whatever, it was an inspired choice because we enjoyed L’Ametlla de Mar and the campsite so much we stayed on a third night.
Camping Nautic, together with it’s very good restaurant, is located at the northern edge of the town on the tiny Playa Pixavaques. That’s not a beach I would choose to swim in (it’s rocky with too many sea urchins and jellyfish) but it’s pretty and close enough to where our Van was parked for us to hear the waves lapping during the night. It is also the starting point of a seafront promenade which leads to the town’s principal swimming beach Platja de L’Alguer (a 5 minute walk) and on to the harbour (another 10 minutes). The old town sits immediately behind the promenade.
The coastline here comprises 20 kms of crystal clear waters and beautiful unspoiled coves and beaches backed by a series of low cliffs and pine forests. Many of the small coves and beaches here are without names although there are 5 Blue Flag beaches in the immediate area. There are excellent coastal walks both to the north and south. Indeed, the GR92 Mediterranean Path runs along the entire Costa Dorada and beyond. The walk south from L’Ametlla de Mar to L’Ampolla was recommended to me but I didn’t have time and had to content myself with the much shorter walk north from Playa Pixavaques to the pebble beach of Platja de L’Estany Tort. It was delightful and I had it completely to myself.
Back to L’Ametlla de Mar. A walk down to the port area in L’Ametlla de Mar is a must. It’s inevitable that tourism will edge it’s way into the town but, for the moment it is first and foremost a fishing port and where better to experience that than down at the harbour, Port de l’Ametlla de Mar.
Most of the harbour is given over to working boats. There are leisure craft in the harbour but relatively few compared to the fishing fleet. Throughout the day, fishing boats of all shapes and sizes were making their way in and out of the port and some it seemed were destined for quite extended trips if the small crowds which had gathered on the quayside to wave them off was anything to go by. My favourite time is late afternoon, watching the more local element of the town’s fishing fleet unload their catch and auction it off in lots. Many of the fishermen then repaired to the port bar and started spending their hard earned pay in a very loud and raucous manner. I had a drink in the port bar on just the one occasion and, believe me, it was loud in there.
The old town is built around a hill and looks down on the harbour. During our first day in L’Ametlla I spent a fair time wandering both the harbour area and the old town looking for a decent restaurant for the evening. There’s no shortage of restaurants and bars but I prefer those at the top of the town. They proved better value. Our favourites are up on the Placa Nova – a very welcoming tapas bar which goes by the name of Bar Pica Pica (and which fast became our local) and the Restaurant Placa Nova which served us a fine meal of deep fried baby monk fish followed by a seafood paella for Vanya and a cheese & octupus stew for me. Delicious!
Needless to say I visited the town’s primary church, L’Esglesia de la Mare de Deu de la Candelera on Carrer Jaume Balmas but, having been completed in the 1960’s, it’s a fairly modern church and doesn’t have the same character as so many others. i’ll say no more about the church.
It is the unusual street art in the town that I found most attractive. They are colourful murals with a marine focus which fill the whole sides of buildings in the town centre area. I found eight wonderful creations but there may well be more further afield.
Just one other item – the Tuna Tours. We’d seen posters advertising tuna tours and just ignored them. It was only on our last night in L’Ametlla that one of the staff at the Pica Pica told us about these particular tours. She made them sound so exciting. It seems that for 55 Euros per person in the high season and 45 Euros in the low season you can sail on a modern two deck catamaran some 5 kilometres to and from the Bluefin Tuna pools of Balfego where you will learn about the Balfego Tuna, swim with them and then eat some at a nearby restaurant. Apparently, this excursion is “an adventure, an education and a gastronomic experience all wrapped up in one”. Now I don’t know much about Balfego Tuna but the waitress described the experience as a really spectacular day out not least because the tuna you are swimming with can grow up to 3 metres in length and weigh up to 600 kilos. That is top of our list of things to do when we return to L’Ametlla and; hopefully, that will be sometime next year. I hope I can still fit into my wet suit.
It’s Cambrils tomorrow but we’ll be stopping at Miravet on the way.