The Ebro Delta: a return to a simple life
Lying about three hours from Barcelona, and a fictitious world away, a Catalan region surprises by the drastic change that its landscape supposes before the astonished eyes of a spectator (see myself) who sees a completely flat and swampy view full of magnificent rice fields. “I could be in Bali”, I think, but nothing could be further from the truth; I just got to Ebro river delta.
in a mix of farmland, bird sanctuary and oasis for city people Eager to escape the overcrowding of other coastal areas, the Ebro Delta offers a totally different world made up of isolated beaches, pink flamingos, people windsurfing and many top-of-the-line foods like eels, oysters or their very tasty mussels.
One of the largest wetlands in Western Europe is today a destination in essence where it seems that time has not passed and where, I cross my fingers, hopefully it will take time to pass, because the luxury here resides, precisely, in the total absence of it: a return to the simple life.
Flora and fauna display all their magic in this place where time seems to have stopped
And if my first thought is related to Bali, the second is rather directed towards a lament of the type: "how is it possible that it took so long to come to know this place". It is the question that assails me after parking my car in the Villa Retiro hotel, a jewel of colonial architecture that Lopez family acquired some years ago to convert it into a hotel.
This charming 1890 mansion was built by the Catalan Indiano James Marti, that after returning from Argentina he invested his fortune in building this summer house in which he, by the way, only lived for a year.
“This is a unique mansion designed by the architect Josep Fontseré i Mestre, one of Gaudí's masters, with a certain modernist air and surrounded by dense vegetation, which has been original since its construction”, Domingo Basco, a member of the human team, and so human!, of the hotel tells me.
I am convinced that the Indian Martí would be proud that more than 120 years later, Villa Retiro is one of the most special hotels in the region, located in the Bajo Ebro area, next to the town of Xerta and just over ten minutes by car from Tortosa, capital of the region.
The Hotel Villa Retiro, a jewel of colonial architecture surrounded by tropical vegetation
Villa Retiro contrasts with the landscape of the rest of the Delta, a place of agricultural tradition where the rice harvest still represents 75% of Catalonia's supply.
Not much happens inland, but on the coast it is not difficult to observe the memory of the old way of life of the area in the tiny white houses, known as barracas, where the harvest was processed.
After years of decline – the flight from rural areas to cities was inevitable in the late 1960s and 1970s – the sightseeing It is today the true engine of change (for the better) in the area.
Still, the true character of the Delta has changed little, thank goodness, and the tranquility, the sunsets and the good food continue to be some of its greatest attractions.
Good proof of this is the Michelin star and the recognition of critics and public that it has. Chef Fran Lopez in front of the kitchen of Villa Retiro.
This young chef has established hotel tradition in his genetic map and, raised in the kitchen, López elevates signature cuisine with typical products from the Delta to a gastronomic proposal that is literally finger-licking good, especially when at the table of his restaurant dishes such as Wanton pasta coca with tuna belly, citrus and black garlic mayonnaise or creamy rice from the Delta with duck and citrus.
Heading the kitchen at Villa Retiro, chef Fran López, with a Michelin Star
And satisfied diners, a proud chef, as recognized by this young chef who he has managed to put this humble Catalan region on the gastronomic map.
And he has done it with honesty and discretion, a mantra that is preached in the house from the first to the last member of the team. One more excuse to visit a place that, although it does not catch the traveler in passing, he manages to make him fall in love with its natural exquisiteness of form and substance. “And that it took me so long to visit him…”, I lament again.
One offer, that of the Villa Retiro, which is completed with the nine rooms of the main building (an annex has been built in the complex with ten more modern rooms) that preserve the modernist essence of the late nineteenth century, where luxury resides in the noble woods, the original tiles or in its spectacular bathtubs of British inspiration and wrought iron that promise, and fulfill, the good rest of the traveler.
And if not, it will always remain his pool, surrounded by 3,000 square meters of lush tropical garden and even some waterfalls. The impossible here is not to relax.
Signature cuisine with typical Delta products
HARMONY IN THE CATALAN TERROIR
Outside the walls of the Villa Retiro, the show goes on. And it is that a considerable part of the Delta is Natural Park, declared as such in 1983.
But beyond all this paradise blessed by nature, the Delta also offers charming cities and corners where history left its mark more than 2,000 years ago... and here it continues.
Miravet Castle, on the right bank of the Ebro
Tortosa is one of the best examples. Chosen by the Iberians and inhabited by Romans, Muslims, Jews and Christians, the historical legacy of the region's capital can be seen in visits such as the Zuda castle, the Santa María cathedral and modernist buildings, dotted throughout the city.
Tortosa: a mixture of cultures wherever you look
And on a much more earthly and much less artistic level, it is Sant Carles de la Rapita (or directly La Rápita) a good place to experience the benefits of the most local gastronomy, so much so that you can even 'fish' it with your hands to enjoy it.
This is what happens at the ** Musclarium , a mussel and oyster farm that offers the diner the product of the sea at the table** within a closed gastronomic proposal that includes a seafood-based appetizer, rice, dessert and even a short boat ride to access the ‘almost’ floating restaurant (€50).
From the sea to the table, the Musclarium mantra