Costa Brava

The Catalan writer Josep Pla raved about this charming town, in its beautiful setting on a bay surrounded... by wooded slopes: "The best thing about Tossa is its air, its light, its profile, its colour, its life …" Marc Chagall even called it the "Blue Paradise". Villa Vella, the old town which is under historical preservation, was surrounded by walls and towers in the Middle Ages to protect against North-African pirates. Narrow alleyways invite you to take a pleasant stroll, and you can while away the time in restaurants and cafés around the central Plaça Pintor. The Museu Municipal (Municipal Museum) has been set up in the former Governor's Palace on Plaça Roig i Soler and mainly wins visitors over with its department of contemporary art with works by Chagall. The several sandy beaches such as the Platja d’Es Codolar and the Platja Gran on the beach promenade Passeig del Mar are a paradise for water rats. more

The small fishing port of L'Estartit is a typical seaside resort, which is separated from Torroella de... Montgrí by a barren mountain 300 m (almost 1,000 ft) high. The wide sandy beaches stretch out for miles, and are lined with lively promenades full of boutiques, restaurants, souvenir shops, diving schools and surf shops. There are several campsites and countless hotels, offering accommodation to suit any budget. Ascending the Montgri Mountain, on which a defiant fort from the 13th century is enthroned, you will be rewarded with a spectacular view into the far distance - from the Gulf of Pals and the Ter Valley right across to the Pyrenees. The Illes Medes, seven small rocky islands which were declared a nature reserve in 1985, are situated around 1 km (0.6 miles) off the coast. Divers can only observe the highly colourful underwater world in which cuttlefish and jewfish play from 75 m (246 ft) away. You can also visit the unique animal and plant world on a glass-bottomed boat. more

The capital of the province of the same name saw its heyday in the period after 1134, when the County... of Barcelona merged with the Kingdom of Aragon. Girona was besieged more than 30 times, but never successfully, earning itself the name Ciutat dels Setges ("Siege City"). There was a major Jewish community in Girona (El Call) until arson attacks and hate campaigns by the Christian population put an end to their peaceful existence, and they were driven out completely after 1492. The entwining alleys of the old town (Barri Vell) spread out on a hill above the confluence of the Riu Onyar and Riu Ter. A monumental Baroque outside staircase leads up to the cathedral which was built over four centuries starting in 1312. Attached to the choir, the 35 m (115 ft) high and 23 m (75 ft) wide Gothic nave is the widest in Europe - a masterpiece of medieval structural engineering and a breathtaking experience. In addition to the trapezium-shaped Roman crypt with its elaborately adorned capitals, the colourful stained glass windows from the 14th to 16th centuries are also worth seeing. The Arabic Baths (Els Banys Àrabs), which were not built until the end of the 13th century based on North African models, may have been erected on the remains of an Arabic bath house and are a perl of profane Roman architecture. more