For the last two weeks I have been in Catalonia, Spain. For a few months now I’ve been building up to a big meeting that happened on the 30th January. As I’m a university researcher, my wages come from the grants and awards that the European Commission give to run projects. As part of these grants the projects must be reviewed by The Commission every year and only if they are going well will another year’s money be released. This meeting was one of those meetings and everyone involved in the project was putting a great deal of effort in to making it look good.

So, after all the hard work of building up to the meeting, I decided to make use that I was already in Barcelona and retreat immediately afterwards for a week’s holiday. Daisy helped to organised the holiday – I was somewhat too busy getting ready for the meeting.

Montseny

We spent Saturday travelling to Montseny (pronounced “Mont Sayne”) – the nearest national park to Barcelona. It’s a mountainous park covered in pine forests and has the unusual distinction of having wild boar. We booked three nights at the Hotel Can Barrina set on a hill-side near the town of the same name as the park.

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The weather was a little cold and overcast; not really much different to the UK. The idea of retreating to the hills was so that we could get away from the hustle and bustle, relax and forget about work. The surrounding countryside really helps, as it’s so calm and you can listen to the birds sing. That is, of course, if the hotel isn’t playing music into the garden – perhaps the only irritating habit of this hotel.

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The Swimming Pool at the Hotel Can Barrina:
The weather was not so great.

Being out of season, the hotel was very quiet – on the Monday I’m pretty sure we were the only people staying there. However, that had its advantages! The food in the hotel’s restaurant was just stunning and on Monday we had the whole restaurant staff to ourselves! I must say again what wonderful food the restaurant served. Apparently, the owners of the hotel and restaurant are self-trained chefs and it was clear that the menu, including the desserts, were made in-house by very talented people!

On the Sunday we walked a mile up hill to the small village of Montseny – the town that gives the park its name. There really wasn’t much to see there. There’s a small church, a few shops and a tourist information centre that didn’t have any tourists or information. Still there were some lovely views from the town.

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The town of Montseny against the beautiful backdrop of the Montseny Park

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Looking down the valley towards Sant Esteve

On the Monday we walked in the opposite direction, down the valley along the path of the River Tordera. There are woodland walks that follow the river down to the point where the road crosses it. There the path stops next to the river.

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Daisy at the River Tordera

We ordered an early breakfast on the Tuesday, as we were leaving for the coast. Kindly, the owner also rose early to provide us with the usual feast of a breakfast that consisted of toast, jam, cake, yoghurt, and fruit all presented beautifully, as seems to be the way with this hotel.

A 20 minute taxi ride to the train station of Sant Celoni and we were off on our delayed train to Girona. Fortunately, in some ways, the bus we were catching there was also delayed, but it meant that when we arrived in the town of Palafrugell we had missed the last bus to our destination, Llafranc.

Llafranc

So, a short taxi ride and we were deposited at our hotel, the Hotel Llevant set on the shore of the beautiful small beach town of Llafranc.

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The weather took a much better turn as we arrived at the coast and the sun shone bright to give us a lovely warm end to the week. It surprised me how quiet the town was. In the summer you will be hard-pushed to find space for a towel on the beach or a canoe in the marina (just zoom in on the Google Maps satellite image of the beach), but now, in the winter, the place is deserted.

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Llafranc Bay

Llafranc bay is half-moon shaped and has a sandy beach upon which some small fishing boats are moored, while the large luxury motor yachts are moored in the small marina to the north of the bay. The town of Llafranc has become a haven for the rich, with one bed apartments fetching €500,000 and detatched properties with views of the sea starting at €1,500,000. Unfortunately, the type of people that can afford these prices only inhabit their homes during summer, so the economy of the town is such that the town all but ceases to trade over the winter. All the restaurants and shops are shut until March. The only restaurants that remained open at the hotel restaurants, and only three hotels were open that we saw. However, this makes it a perfect place for a quiet, relaxing retreat during winter!

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Beautiful clear water in Llafranc

On the Wednesday we decided to walk up to the Sant Sebastiá lighthouse that has wonderful views over Llafranc and south, as well as north up the Costa Brava. The walk was not too hard when following the marked GR-92 coastal path walk, although Daisy’s bad hip meant we were taking it quite easy.

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Daisy and Me at the lighthouse viewpoint looking towards Llafranc

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San Sebastiá lighthouse

At the lighthouse I expected to head back to the hotel, but Daisy wanted to go on and we ended up walking all the way to Cala Pedrosa (Stoney Bay) – nearly 2 miles from where we started and we still had to get back. That’s quite a hike for two softies, one with a bad leg!

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Cala Pedrosa – The Stoney Bay

That evening we took some photos at dusk before having our meal.

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Boats on Llafranc Beach at dusk

On Thursday we walked south to the small village of Calella de Palafrugell, which is similar to Llafranc. The views and weather were just wonderful, so we ended up spending much more time sitting, enjoying and taking photographs of the surroundings.

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Calella de Parafrugell: beautiful water here.

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Boats on the beach in Calella de Palafrugell

On Friday we deliberately spent time lazing on Llafranc beach, paddling in the water and taking time eating lunch (it’s the Spanish way, after all).

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Daisy paddles in the clear water

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I dip my hobbit toes in the water

We went out again at dusk to get more photos of the photogenic Llafranc, meeting the friendly kitty we’d seen around the town all week.

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The friendly kitty poses on a boat at dusk

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Panorama of Llafranc at dusk

Then yesterday we flew back to Bournemouth from Girona and had some spectacular views of the Pyrenees.

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The Pyrenees from 30,000 feet

Now it’s back to work and try to avoid those post-holiday blues!