Monday-Tuesday, October 4-5, 2021

Calella de Palafrugell: Fantastic Renewed Apartment (Airbnb)

Bike Route Monday: Bordils to Calella de Palafrugell, 22 miles, 1100 feet of climb

We got another late start Monday, but it didn't matter at all because we did not have far to go and we were trying to avoid getting wet. It rained hard Sunday night and was still raining and cold until early afternoon Monday. Our host prepared a huge breakfast, and she and Laura joined us afterward. Laura speaks excellent English. She has two children, ages 8 and 5, and works part-time at home for a Netherlands clothing company. Anna and Laura were great fun to talk with. Laura vacations on Mallorca and gave us suggestions for restaurants and a vineyard and other places to go there.

The wind! It blew 20-30 miles per hour, all day long. And the rain! It was light to medium, never really hard, but it came down the whole time we were riding. The route was interesting. We had a mix of highways, gravel roads, bike trails, small roads, lanes through medieval villages, and back streets in modern suburbs. We stopped halfway for coffee, cake, and croissants, and to dry off for a bit. When we got to Calella, we parked at an outdoor terrace right on the ocean for a seafood lunch while we waited for our host to arrive with a key to the apartment.

The apartment was a spacious two-bedroom with a terrace, just two blocks from one of the many small beaches in town. It was a good place to take a rest day. I had not had time to catch up on bills or trip planning or blogging, so most of Monday was spent doing that. Ken went for a swim in the late afternoon, when the sun was at its warmest.

Calella was historically a small fishing village and is now a relatively small, quiet beach town. At least it was quiet while we were there, early in the first week of the winter season. Many of the restaurants and shops had already closed for the year, and the large grocery store across the street from our apartment had closed down its deli department and was emptying its shelves in preparation for its shut-down.

We liked the quiet pace, the several smaller beaches, the narrow, twisty streets.

The church in Bordils, the small town less than a kilometer from the farm we stayed on Sunday night.

View from the restaurant where we ate lunch in Calella de Palafrugell Monday.

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The beach in Calella is lined with old fishing huts. Above the huts are small hotels, shops, and restaurants.

Ken on the rocks.