The Empordà, the perfect place for a hedonistic summer vacation
Carlo, Victoria and Miguel, the three protagonists of my first novel, Summer storm (Editorial Milenio), pass your summer holidays in the Empordà.
Miguel's family, who is married to Victoria, has a farmhouse in that unique area of the province of Girona, to which they invite Carlo, their youth friend and with whom they lost contact thirteen years ago, to spend a few days. In an idyllic setting, where the Empordá appears as the perfect setting for a hedonistic summer vacation, an emotional storm is unleashed that will take its protagonists to the limits of friendship and passion.
The Empordà comprises two counties (Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà) of the province of Girona, where there is also Costa brava, but although the protagonists of the novel enjoy the sea (they spend the day in the boat of some friends -in that area, even if you have a yacht or a llaüt, you always have a 'boat') they prefer to live it from a farmhouse in the interior, surrounded by fields, oaks and pine forests.
Since this item is a guide to discover the area as a true connaisseur, This would be the first secret to live the Empordà: rent a farmhouse or, failing that, book a hotel in one of the hundreds of medieval villages with stone houses and narrow streets.
Victoria would recommend to her friends the Hotel La Placa de Madremanya . Small, cozy and with a romantic air, it is located in a centuries-old stone house and located in a small medieval village on top of a hill from where to watch time pass. She would also advise you to book at Les Hamaques, a charming hotel with few rooms, conceived as an intimate and cozy country house that summarizes above all a lifestyle, a way of understanding rest, well-being and living with nature.
And, if you want more proposals, Victoria would tell you about More from Torrent , an 18th-century Catalan farmhouse converted into a luxury hotel where you can breathe happiness and calm. Its restaurant stands out, 1751, directed by Ramón Freixa, that seeks to combine the excellent local products with the tradition of Catalan cuisine and the avant-garde of the most imaginative cuisine.
The wonder of feeling in an intimate and cozy country house
In one chapter, Carlo drives the car aimlessly down the network of roads and rural roads barely paved that link some towns with others through pine forests, farmland, bordering rivers, streams and century-old farmhouses that still function as farms. Driving is a way to enjoy the landscape, especially in the early hours of the morning, when you breathe in the coolness of the damp grass, or when the afternoon is falling, with the trees drawing landscapes of shadows that merge with the source of the Pyrenees emerging wild from the Mediterranean.
This walk deserves a few stops. The best guide, intuition, because all the towns of medieval origin have the charm of stopped time, but the protagonists of the novel can be found in Llabià, Madremanya, Monells, Pals, Peratallada, Sant Mori, Ullastret, Ventalló…
The best way to enjoy the sea is by boat, which allows discover the inaccessible coves of the Costa Brava, but there are two perfect beach options for those who, like Carlo, are looking for some tranquility, even if it is August, located in nature reserves: La Gola del Ter and the beaches of Sant Pere Pescador.
In the Empordà, eating and drinking are priority activities. Carlo, Victoria and Miguel enjoy cooking local products: fruit and vegetables from the farmhouse next door, organic beef from Girona, prawns from Palamós, eggs from the chickens of the neighbor in the town square, freshly made bread like from before and good wines from the D.O. Empordà.
Eating and dining at friends' houses is the main activity for socializing in Empordanese summer vacations, although the area has good restaurants that are well worth leaving the farmhouse for a few hours:
Brugarol Wineries – Finca Bell-lloc: a gastronomic experience to discover the D.O. Empordà, in underground cellars designed by RCR Arquitectes.
Can Dolc: Speciality on grilled meat, escalivada, good sausages and homemade desserts , like the essential recuit, with a terrace with views of the town's Gothic church.
The bass: the perfect option to share with friends tapas and dishes from the land, the sea and the farm, homemade desserts, D.O. Emporda, music and drinks in a very cozy garden.
More Sorrer: located in a typical farmhouse bordered by a field of sunflowers, it offers a excellent market cuisine with local ingredients, good cocktails and, on some nights, live music, all outdoors.
Miguel comes from a family of architects, Victoria works as a fashion editor and Carlo is a painter. And it is that Empordà has been and is a point of reference for the creative world. Artists' studios are hard to spot, but a stroll through its museums, art galleries and antique shops They will also breathe a good dose of beauty into the soul:
Old Centre: antiquarian.
Casavels: art Gallery.
Cul de Sac: furniture and decoration.
Empúries-Museum of Archeology of Catalonia: most important Greco-Roman archaeological site in Catalonia.
Perramon Foundation: museum of painting and sculpture of contemporary art from the sixties to the present.
Serge Castella : art gallery, antiquarian and interior design projects.
Last stop: in addition to a decoration store with vintage and industrial-style furniture, highlights its garden and its restaurant with organic and local products.
The book 'Summer Storm', by the journalist Toni Gasa