Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Sant Feliu de Guixols: Renovated Apartment hosted by Jordi (Airbnb)

Bike Route: Calella de Palafrugel to Sant Feliu de Guixols, 25 miles, 1800 feet of climb

This is getting repetitive: another fun and interesting ride. We are getting so used to the hills and changes of surface that this day seemed very easy. It was definitely starting to feel like fall, with temps in the 60s when we started out in Calella, especially as we headed inland toward Girona at the beginning of the day. But as we went farther south and back toward the coast, the temperature rose and the air felt softer.

We had another two-bedroom apartment about 250 meters from the beach. By the time we had lunch, showered, and took our evening walk, neither of us was interested in swimming--though the beach looked wonderful, almost empty, quiet, and that lovely color of Mediterranean blue that I remember from the coast of Italy.

On our evening walk, we searched out another Rafael Maso house. There are very few outside of Girona, but I had this one on my list.

Back at the apartment, Ken found an online article about the area we have been cycling in. I'll share it with you here: www.avantgrup.com/en/cycle-tourism-costa-brava-and-the-girona-pyrenees-the-most-desired-cycle-tourism-destination-in-southern-europe/. If you are interested in video on some of our routes and climbs, check out the Col Collective on YouTube; you can filter the videos by region. Those YouTube videos are some of the ones we watched when we were planning the trip. We also found videos on the Costa Brava by Darren Alff at BicycleTouringPro.com.

Coming down out of the foothills near Girona and headed toward the coast. That is the Mediterranean between the green hills in the foreground and the blue ones in the background.

View from the roof of our apartment building, looking north toward the nearest beach at the edge of town. We were just 250 meters from the beach, down some steps and across a road.

Rafael Maso's Casa Cases in Sant Feliu de Guixols. When we arrived, the family that currently lives here were just going in the front door. We tried to be discreet and waited until the door had closed before bringing out the camera. The house needs some repairs and maintenance, but it is still substantial and elegant (I think).

The front door details are distinctly Maso.