Costa Brava 💙 Travel Photos
Earlier this month we did a short road-trip around Costa Brava, all the way to Narbonne, Carcassone, then back home to Valencia. For the first time ever in the history of me being me, I managed to actually get my photos culled, edited and printed in record time! Now I have a little photo album to look at whenever I feel like. 📷
I also shared my travel sketchbook and drawings of the trip!
The story of this trip starts back in April, when our friends E and V visited and for some reason we got into the topic of Les Grands Buffets. All our friends have been to multiple times, the internet can't get tired of it, even the BBC did a nice piece on it. It is said every French person must go on a pilgrimage to Les Grands Buffets at least once in their lifetime.
Normally, there's a waiting list of 6 months and up. V found a table for six persons in February 2027 (10 months away), and booked it for all of us before someone else snatched it. For fun, I checked a table for three and suddenly found one for June 2nd. No way, less than 1.5 months away?! MY PRECIOUS! Impulsively, I booked our table in the extravagant and very aptly name Le Salon Doré, told Husband he needed to take some days off from work, and told Mother-in-law we'd be going on a short trip to a restaurant 600km away.
We started from our home near Valencia really early on a Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny day, which later turned into a heat-wave, and of course the car's AC decided to stop working on that day, of all days. We stopped for breakfast at L'Hospitalet de L'Infant, then drove to Tossa de Mar where we had lunch. Finally drove to L'Estartit where we slept for two nights in a chalet.
The campground was enormous -- I've never been to one like this, as we normally go to cheap places and put up a tent. Mother-in-law was terrified of the idea of camping -- she thought she'd be in a sleeping bag on the floor and would not be able to get up, LOL. Which doesn't even make sense because we actually use comfortable air mattresses that are just as tall as a normal bed, and that's what she'd use (and we have a table, chairs too, she'd even have her own tent). But alas, Mother-in-law got a very luxurious camping experience, in a brand new chalet with AC, comfy beds, private shower, kitchen, terrace (unlike Mom who actually did go tenting and her mattress had a puncture and she woke up literally on the floor, but that's a story for another time, when I finally get to edit those photos!). 🏕️
Anyway, one of the highlights of this trip was the lady that worked on a bar in the campground. This bar was a bit away from the pools and the playground and maybe for that reason it was completely empty! We were the only customers! It had a lovely vibe, mountains behind us, a view of the sea in front of us, and as we all know Aperol Spritz is THE European summer drink, so we ordered 3 of those and, lo and behold, the barlady brings us 3 huge drinks decorated with a paper parrot with a feather tail! Hilarious! We totally brought the parrots back home. She was just such a wonderful person, I went there to say goodbye on the last night, and we hugged and even said I Love You to each other, hahaha. 🍹🦜🧡
On Sunday we woke up early to explore the region. We visited first the medieval town of Peratallada. They have a beautiful Torre de las Horas (clock tower) and it was free to visit that day, so Husband and I went up.
Peratallada was probably the most beautiful town we've seen in this trip. It was quite empty and the morning light made it all more magical. From there we visited Pals, another medieval town nearby. Also beautiful, but much larger and more crowded.
From there we went to Aiguablava and Tamariu. We had two hours to kill until our restaurant reservation for lunch. I went into the water, it was only 21°C, and being from the Brazilian Northeast my idea of good water is more like 26°C and higher, but I confess it was really refreshing and after the initial shock it felt very nice. My travel mates didn't dare to go in, though. The cowards.
Mother-in-law taking a nap at the beach, hehe.
On Monday we continued our trip north, towards Les Grands Buffets. We first went to Cadaqués and I HATED the road full of curves, I felt super sick. The travel mates, on the other hand, loved it all.
We passed the French border and visited Collioure, a WONDERFUL coastal town, full of colors, a huge castle by the sea, and great ice-cream. Unfortunately, the only parking spot we found was a free one-hour-max-per-day one. So we did our best in this one hour, and kept driving to Narbonne, where we slept for 2 nights in a cheap BB Hotel.
We took an Uber into Narbonne, which is really cute but really small. We found an incredible bistro by the canal and had wine and dinner there. The service was fantastic. In truth, every single person we met during this trip was really nice. The French lady running this bistro was not only incredibly chic, she was also really funny, and her wine recommendation was to die for (Corbières)!
On Tuesday we woke up early and drove to Carcassonne. It was the third visit for Husband and me, and first time for Mother-in-law. The Cité is really cool, we had pétit déjeuner, then some crêpes a while later, and just loved walking through the alleys, walking around the towers and external walks. And to think the whole thing was almost demolished by the government in the 1850s!! People revolted (as French people do) and instead the Cité was restored and turned into the wonderful Carcassonne of today.
From there we visited the medieval town of Lagrasse, considered one of France's most beautiful towns. It is very charming, but the Spanish towns were prettier!
Finally, the time came for our dinner at Les Grands Buffets!! It is an extravagant and a bit tacky experience, lol. There was a duck in a sword on fire, there were way too many glasses in front of us, there was an enormous amount of cutlery at the table, very formal setting (but you are not supposed to eat outside in, as it's a buffet; and the waiters will not replace your cutlery if you accidentally send them back with your plates, as it's not a set menu! Instead you should keep all your dirty cutlery piled around your plate, directly on the table cloth, with no cutlery rest... Gross). I must also say while the food was good, it was absolutely not great.
Initially we felt underwhelmed. We drove so much for this! We like fine dining and have been to many Michelin-level restaurants, so our expectation was leaning a bit that way. Instead what you get is a julbord kind of thing. It is, after all, a BUFFET. It's right there on the name! Once we realized it is just a buffet with a fancy decoration, then everything fell into place and now I'm looking forward to going again next year with a group of friends -- but probably will not go back ever again after that. For 65,90€ per person plus drinks, I'd rather have a set tasting menu at a really nice restaurant.
The cheese was my favorite part, there are over 100 to choose from.
Finally, on Wednesday we started driving back home. We stopped for breakfast at Besalú, a beautiful medieval town in Spain, then drove all the way back home, arriving in the early evening. So that was it, a little over 1600km in five days, beautiful towns, great people, good food, a tacky restaurant, 1500 photos, and amazing moments with my little family. 💙
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