Day Trip to Spain

Tuesday 16 September

Still lots of sunshine this morning although the clouds were rolling in a bit.  It was relatively quiet in Collioure around 10 am as we retrieved the car from its garage up the hill and took the coast road south towards the Spanish border.  The route winds through the vineyards which cling to the steep slopes of the Pyrenees as this mighty mountain chain descends into the Mediterranean Sea.  Of course the views from the road are fantastic, although this morning the sea was not as blue as it can be on a brilliantly sunny day.

Cerbere - last stop before Spain

We passed through the last two French towns, Banyuls-sur-Mer and Cerbere before climbing up to the border where there are fine views both north back to France and south into Spain.   We were quite surprised at the large number of cyclists on this very hilly road and a whole bunch of them had gathered at the border for a photo shoot - so we did likewise.

Portbou and the Spanish coastline

The road descends steeply to Portbou, which is a major train terminus - something about French and Spanish rail tracks being a different gauge.  It is also a pleasant little seaside town.   Soon we were away from the mountains and just past the resort town of Llanca the road turned inland towards Figueres.  Bypassing this large centre we took the road southeast towards the coast again.  This is the area where the Spanish beach resorts of Catyluna begin at Roses and extend all the way along the shoreline.   After travelling across a flat agricultural landscape for a while we began climbing some  rather rugged looking hills and the vegetation changed to become distinctly Mediterranean with thick stands of umbrella and stone pines.  Our plan was to visit the medieval town of Begur, situated on a high hill overlooking the sea - it had been recommended by an English lady we met in St Antonin. THe GPS took us to a very uninteresting and quite modern town centre from which we could see what looked to be the medieval quarter.  With no signs for parking or directions we drove around the hill and then spotted a sign to Sa Tuna, the nearest beach so we took the very steep and winding road down through the pines and precariously perched villas (obviously built for the amazing views) finally ending up in a carpark.  It was just a short walk however to one of the prettiest little bays imaginable and a row of seafront restaurants.

Sa Tuna

  Having driven a couple of hours into Spain we were now feeling the pangs of hunger so after an inspection of the various menus on offer, found ourselves seated at Hostal de Sa Tuna overlooking the pebbly beach, the rocky cliffs and the clear sparkling waters.  So many regrets at not bringing our swimming things - the water looked so inviting, the temperature had climbed to 29 degrees and the sun was shining.

View from our table

Lunch was a pretty lavish, not to mention expensive, affair but very,very good.  Gerri went vegetarian for her main course and then had a total drooling session over her pear tart with roquefort ice cream.  I started with salt cod fritters,which I always loved in Barcelona, and then the main event arrived - suckling pig with ratafia wine sauce and peaches, mashed potato laced with truffle and a veritable herb garden of greens.  Amazing!  The wine, a local variety, was excellent (sadly only one glass for the driver) and the coffee superb.  A bit of a gourmet indulgence but sitting by the water with such divine views in this tiny little cove - wow, it was so worth it!

Lunch!

 Gerri suggested we could do it all over again and sit there all afternoon - not that there was any suggestion from the lovely staff that we should move on any time soon.  However we still had a drive back to Collioure so we could not linger too long.  There is a beautifully crafted stone paved path around the cliffs so I went for a walk past the pretty houses and there around the headland I discovered another gorgeous little cove - but this one had a huge resort style hotel which kind of detracted from its charm a little.

Bay around the corner

I could see that this lovely path continues on along the coast - shame there was no time to explore some more.

Sa Tuna, from the coastal path

Reluctantly we tore ourselves away from Sa Tuna and took the quicker way home, linking with the autovia which crosses the lowest point of the Pyrenees, back into France.  The wind had picked up quite considerably when we arrived back in Collioure, and it seems that there has been a little rain here during the day.  So glad we went to Spain (no rain in Spain today).

Sa Tuna - a magical place