Holiday in L'Escala, Spain - 24th September - 8th October

Day 10 - Two hairy roads!

Today we drove over to Tossa de Mar, a favourite holiday destination of old, and close enough to where we're staying to visit again. It had been 13 years since our last visit (on a day trip from the south of France in 2009), and I was keen to see the resort again.

We left the villa at 10am and stopped at the town of Pals on the way. It's a gorgeous mediaeval town with steep narrow streets and is popular with tourists, but we arrived early before the hordes! We parked the car and walked towards the centre, coming across a beautiful ceramic shop/café. After wandering around and drooling over the pottery (pretty and very reasonably priced), we had a coffee in the sunny courtyard.

Sophie bought a couple of pieces of pottery, and we continued upwards towards the Placa Major. Keith elected to sit in the sunshine and wait for us, and we found several lovely shops. In one of them, a place selling handbags and clothes, Sophie bought a hat!

Pals is so pretty, and we decided to come back later in the week to explore a bit more when we weren't so pushed for time.

I should think that at the height of summer it's crowded, but there was a lovely atmosphere today with not too many people.

We collected Keith, who had been chatted up by a Spanish woman while he waited for us. Maybe she thought he was lonely, and she jabbered away to him about mosquitoes and rain!

We drove on, reaching the busy C31 and then turning off towards Sant Feliu de Guixols. I had visited the town back in 1980 when I went to a bullfight with my parents, which hadn't been a pleasant experience. I remember the drive over in a coach and being terrified of the sheer drops into the sea below, so I really didn't want to get to Tossa de Mar by this route, but we ended up on it, nonetheless...

Luckily, on our side of the road, we were up against the rock face so nowhere for me to go, but the other side of the road looked very scary indeed, with only a low barrier to stop vehicles plunging into the sea below. At some points, the barrier was just wooden posts and Sophie began to feel very uncomfortable even though my average speed was only about 25 miles an hour and I took it extremely careful! Occasionally I saw glimpses of this beautiful coastline and saw how it got its name as the "wild" coast.

For the last part of the journey, I had a German camper van in front of me so that eased the drive a bit as he was looking out for vehicles on our side of the road! We saw lots of cyclists winding their way upwards and several motorbikes. Rather them than me!

It took us longer than we anticipated to do the winding, steep drive, so we arrived in Tossa at lunchtime. We eventually managed to find an underground car park near the beach, and I parked the car with some difficulty as each space seemed to have four pillars at the corners! How I didn't scrape the bodywork I'll never know!

We emerged into bright sunlight and, as we were all hungry, ate at the first restaurant we came to, La Platja. It was right underneath an apartment I'd stayed in with my parents when I was 18. The view across the beach and over to the castle was stunning.

Sophie and I decided to choose from the 21,95 euro set menu which consisted of three courses. We chose the asparagus to start followed by chicken for me, and salmon for Sophie. Keith had a tuna salad to start followed by a large portion of chicken with chips.

Unfortunately, my asparagus never arrived, and I was given a mixed salad instead! Sophie wasn't happy with her asparagus as it was tough and fibrous. Sadly, she wasn't impressed with her salmon either, so not the best of meals for her, which was a shame. My chicken was fine, but then there's not a lot that can wrong when it's simply roasted in the oven!

Tossa was very busy with people on the beach and eating in the many restaurants lining the front. After our meal, we walked into the town, and it seemed much busier than when we were here last. None of us fancied the long slog up to the Vila Vella, or old town, as a tummy full of food and hot sun aren't the best conditions for a steep uphill climb!

Sophie bought a lovely dress in one of the many shops and we wandered about, noticing a shop that I had been to many times in 1980, still going strong. 

Some lovely old buildings in the narrow streets

Tossa appeared to be more touristy than I had remembered. Years ago, it was the much quieter cousin of Lloret de Mar but obviously, people have now discovered the lovely town and its magnificent castle on the headland.

We decided to head back to L'Escala and we set Trish to get us home. She took me towards Girona and then onto a very rural road that wound through the mountains (again!) after the small village of Cassa de la Selva. Fortunately, I didn't see any other vehicles on this narrow, winding road that, at one point, was 1100 feet above sea level. This time I felt a bit more anxious in case I met a huge tractor on one of the hairpin bends! The countryside was stunning though and thickly forested with just the odd building now and again.

Back on the level, I heaved a huge sigh of relief, and we headed back to the villa on flatter roads! When we got back, Keith and I took a beer and sat up on the roof terrace for an hour, chatting about the journey and watching the comings and goings below. We saw several boats being towed out of the marina, probably because the season was finished.

The evening was very relaxed with a couple of games of Scrabble, a bottle of red wine and egg sandwiches for supper. We then watched the end of the film, Meet The Parents, which was funny if a little cringey!