24 November 2022 - Palamos
Miles driven today = 41
Total Miles to date = 3,921
Over the last week we've managed to get ourselves a fair bit ahead of schedule coming up the Mediterranean Coast, so we've decided to slow things down a bit for a couple of days on the Costa Brava before we cross the border back into France and pick up the pace again on Saturday.
Lisa has spent a lot of time in this part of the World in the past and has some favourite places around here which she would love to revisit and show me around. There is an issue though with access to a lot of the smaller villages in a big vehicle and even in those that we can get to the majority of campsites are now closed for the winter.
So we found our way a little way along the coast to Palamos where there is a private aire, which is open 12 months of the year. The pitches are arranged on 4 tiers on a steep slope so we can just about see the sea from our spot on tier 2. It's a tad over €16 a night including hook up.
From here it's about a 20 minutes downhill walk to the town centre. As well as being a relatively major tourist resort Palamos is the last surviving fishing port on the Costa Brava and one of the town's 2 harbours is still dedicated entirely to fishing craft.
In the background you can see the town's impressive beach which sweeps around the bay to the adjoining resort of Sant Antoni de Calonge. Initially we could see one solitary kite surfer but later in the afternoon there were dozens of them so it's obviously a big centre for those guys.
There is a fishing museum which is housed over two levels in a building on the harbour.
After watching an introductory film in English the museum covered historical fishing methods, the types of fish caught locally and also a section on sustainability, both of fish stocks and fishing itself as an industry.
There are plenty of English translations to the information, although in truth I did find the whole thing to be a little disjointed.
The second harbour on the other side of the peninsular is filled with pleasure craft of varying shapes and sizes.
Overlooking the yachting harbour is a small park which is on the site of an old Augustinian Convent.
The buildings were taken over by a cork processing factory and subsequently burnt down in 1952 but the stones of the convent's rose window and some of the arches have been repurposed in the park.
The mirador looking out over the peninsular is dedicated to Fransesc d'Assis Marull, a local poet and publisher who was born in Palamos.
The older parts of Palamos have the usual narrow streets.
The oldest surviving building in the town is the Church of St Mary which dates back to 1439. It survived damage from an attack by Red Beard the Pirate in 1543 as well as from British ships in 1742, and also during the Civil War.
Tomorrow we are going to see if we can squeeze ourselves into one or more of the seaside villages further up the coast for a look around. But until then here's the obligatory shot of what Lisa rustled up in the van for tea tonight. Dorado fillets in a pesto crumb, although admittedly the fish was from Aldi rather purchased fresh from a local pescadero. All washed down with some of that €0.85 a litre Vino Blanco. Oh yes!
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