# Costa Brava - the Spain of yesteryear



## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

We recently drove the Spanish coast road from the Portugeuse border to the French border. I didn't know there were that many tower cranes in the world!
Our last stop was a place I'd visited many years ago and was curious to see how much it had changed and was very surprised to find it almost exactly as I remembered it. Small sandy bays, cliff walks through the conifers, beachside restaurants and bars with vacant tables and not a tower block in sight. 
Next time you're passing that way make the effort to detour to Calella Palafrugell near Girona - a lovely spot.
We camped at Camping Moby Dick - ideally sited about 100 metres from the beach.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Tony

Sounds lovely. Costa de Luz, del Sol, Almeria, Blanca and then North. We have flown to these areas so many times and can't wait to get there in the van

stew


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

Stew - I have to be honest and say - I won't be going back.

I know we weren't able to detour to all the nice little towns along the way (we assume there were some) but the miles and miles of building sites, with tower cranes and tower blocks and boring, boring scenery has really put me off of southern Spain for life - yes the weather's great but the scenery is not to my liking. Coming over the crest of the hill into towns like Benidorm is like entering a set of a science fiction film - the word ghastly doesn't do it justice. As I said earlier, the northern Costa Brava still has some attraction. 

Horses for courses.


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## 89210 (May 16, 2005)

Hi folks
Gotta agree with you there tony, we head to that area every year.
Absolutly superb.






regards...nige


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## 97395 (Jan 22, 2006)

Hi Tony

Got to agree with you about the building sites - we did Andalucia a few years ago, although not camping. We stayed in The Alpujarras which was a magical area but the surrounding countryside once we got away from the lovely mountains was building sites, greenhouses and brown!

Did you get to Roses when you went to Costa Brava? It's a beautiful place and we are looking forward to returning there on our winter trip this year.

What did you think of Portugal? We are planning to spend Christmas there on the south coast. Never been before!

Marie


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## arturusuk (May 27, 2005)

Have got to agree. Done the southern bit and not too keen on the coastal areas---but inland and the mountains---superb.
Have spent some weeks in Roses each spring. Usually stay at Camping
Joncar Mar. This is an easy walk into Roses centre and is about 75yards from the beach. Have not been there for a couple of years.
http://www.campingsonline.com/joncarmar/index.asp
Also stayed at Camping Vell Emporda at Gariguella--this is inland with some good walking and cycling in the surrounding hills.
http://www.vellemporda.com/
Only stayed at either place "off season" and Gariguella was nice and quiet in particular.
BrianM


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

marieturner said:


> What did you think of Portugal? We are planning to spend Christmas there on the south coast. Never been before!
> 
> Marie


Hi Marie
Well Portugal was "interesting" - but not for me.
We crossed into Portugal in the north near Braganca, hit the coast just south of Oporto and drove right around the coast and back into Spain around Vila Real.
Personally I quite enjoyed the northern inland areas - very hilly, very rural, rather wet and not a lot going on but as soon as we hit the coast it wasn't, in my opinion, much different to Spain. Lots of sunshine and lots of jacaranda but not what I would call attractive. Tacky souvenir stalls at Cape St. Vincente (run by Brits). Very disappointed with what we saw of the Algarve - we've got plenty of kiss-me-quick tat here in Essex! I believe that inland it's better but I didn't expect to have to go and find somewhere nice to stay - I thought it would all be nice (how naive of me). We did find a few decent sites but it's a long way to drive for not a lot of decent scenery - no doubt many will disagree with me - they usually do!
I have to say, and it's been said many times before, give me France any day (but maybe not in winter!).


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Costa*

Aguablava is another nice one.

Stayed at the Paradour there a couple of times.

Trev


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