Sunshine, sea and steep climbs - hoping for more winter sun Autumn trip part 3

 Cadaques and Peratallada - two beautiful but very different towns.

Cadaques

 Finally waking up to sunshine, the reason for being on this side of Spain was self evident. This area is one of Eastern Spain’s most unspoilt coastlines. The small town of Cadaques is mostly ‘unharmed’ by mass tourism; the hotels and guest houses are low rise and the buildings are all white, glowing beautifully in the sun.

We walked straight down to the sea and then round the coast line to the top edge of town. Looking back towards the town, with the stunning bay, you could easily imagine why Dali was so attracted to the place. The statue of him on the water front is a reminder that he had a house here and was inspired by this beautiful place. Someone, though, has relieved him of the bottom part of his cane!

The climb up out of town was quite hard for mum, but she persevered and was rewarded with a seat with a view. There’s not an awful lot to do or visit, but dipping into the odd pottery shop and taking photos of the houses was enough.Wandering back down we were met with a boat excursion, we think from the neighbouring more tourist town of Roses; many more people now spilled into the small town. As a result we got onto finding lunch as quickly as we could, also because we had to be left here by late afternoon. Lunch was in Les Pescadors and was good value for the menu, especially so close to the water’s edge. My whole fish was not what I was expecting but it tasted good!

 

The rest of the time here was spent trying to find the really obvious church on the hill, again many steep streets for mum to attempt and many more to explore that we didn’t have time for on this visit. A whole warren awaits those who have lots of time. It was lovely to see all the electricity boxes on houses painted with scenes, a great idea that makes the streets seem like art galleries. 

Leaving through the same mountain pass we came on was a treat this time, even the stopping points for photos didn’t seem as terrifying. However an inland village, not too far away, was drawing us onwards. 

Peratallada is classed as one of the ‘most beautiful villages of Spain’. It is not wrong! It is one of the best preserved medieval villages and is situated in the province of Girona. It only has 100 residents and at this time of the year the tourists seem to be in low numbers. We walked from the hotel we stayed at, more about this later, which was just outside the old town walls. Again, this place has many streets to wander around, with some medieval roads still intact; metal wheel marks are etched into the cobbled roads. 

There is a beautiful little church, which we could only get a sneak view in, as a wedding was taking place and a famous clock tower to climb. A few cafes and a crepe house surround Voltes square, which would have been a hive of activity; it still has it’s beautiful arches on one side. There's also a famous muffin shop, Magdaleneria Cal Tuset, with queues out of the door; sampling 6 of them you can see why, they were delicious.

Many parts of the fortress walls are unfinished, but you can walk around close to most of the structure. It is clear to see how the village gets its name, as Peratallada is Catalan for carved stone and the whole town sits on rock.  

Our next day’s visit proved a little damp but did not affect our feelings for the place. We found a Vermuteria; never heard of one before, but glad we found this one, one glass of ‘vermut’ turned into another and another, mum was enjoying herself and the torrential rains that started, and were to be a feature of the next few worrying days, were not bothering any of us now. The owners of the bar were amused by us and I think disappointed when we decided we had had enough to brave the rain on the walk back.  

 

A slow meander back to our lovely hotel, the Hotel Aatu was so welcoming from the rain. Joanna looked after us and made us hot drinks. I don’t think we have ever been so well served as we were in this hotel. The relationship that was formed instantly was so lovely and mum was treated like a ‘queen’ or Reina as Joanna called her. Everything is taken care of and the breakfast was absolutely delicious, in fact ‘asombroso’. 

Joanna sat with us and helped check on the weather reports and news for our onward journey, giving us some confidence that as we understood it, the storms that had caused the devastation in Valencia were moving away. This meant we would continue to Barcelona and get to see the Sagrada Familia, for us to see changes after 20 years of last seeing it and mum for the first time. We really hoped to come back here on our way back up through Spain, but we were sad to hear that the weekend we stayed was the last in the season. It is definitely a place we would want to come back to.