Trixie Traveler in Catalonia: Day 3 - Sant Feliu de Guixols

The day dawned beautiful on the Costa Brava. We had a delicious breakfast with a view of the water in front of us. We get started on our ride for the day around 9:30. It is a pretty easy, flat ride and we eventually end up on a bike path. This one also,has a fine gravel surface but is pretty easy to ride on. We stop in Palamos for coffee and so does everyone else in our group. We have all worn our new red Experience Plus! Biking shirts with the idea of taking a group photo. We decide that here is a good place since we have the water as background and everyone is here.

Phillip is the sweep for the day and we enjoy his company as we ride along. We stop for lunch in Pals, a beautiful little medieval town. We eat on a terrace overlooking the walkway uphill to the town. Phillip joins us and we have a lovely lunch. The weather has been overcast and a pleasant temperature for riding and, though forecast, we do not have any rain.

We reach the town of Peratallada around 3:30 where we will stay for the next two nights. Our hotel is outside of town in a quiet, peaceful spot. We will meet tonight at 6:30 and be bused to a neighboring town, Palau-Astor, for a tour of a museum and olive oil place and then to dinner. It starts to rain about 5:00. I sit outside under a balcony doing this blog and enjoying the rain.

Peratallada is known for its magnificent medieval look. In 1975 the town was designated an Artistic and Historic town? It retains three different eras of defensive walls and its medieval style arcades houses and narrow streets are its main attraction. The walls were built between the XII and XIII centuries.

We go to an olive oil tasting and dinner in the neighboring town of Palau-Sator 3 km away. The van takes us in two loads. We go to an olive oil factory that makes olive oil in the traditional way with olives from very old trees. Philipp, among his many other talents, has taken a class on olive oil tasting and talks to us about olive oil. We taste three types and discuss the qualities of each. This is a science just like wine tasting. I must admit that I had trouble telling them apart.

Our dinner is at Mas Pou Restaurant just across the driveway from the olive oil place. We have our own room in an old building with stone walls. We have a wonderful variety of tapas before our main course of calamari or rabbit including quail eggs and snails. Philipp shows us what to do with the toast that is set on the table. You cut a piece of garlic, rub it into the toast, then rub a tomato that has been cut in half on top of the toast, sprinkle a little salt and then drizzle a liberal amount of olive oil over the top. yum, yum! we have had this in restaurants, but didn't know what it was. I could have done just fine with the tapas and forgotten the entree. This town is a very small town with little in it yet this large restaurant is packed with more people arriving when we are leaving at 10:30!