Blanes to Pineda de Mar.

Coming to this area of Spain just north of Barcelona was a bit of a recky. To basically look at different places. If we are heading quite far south we tend to do a long drive from the Spanish \ French border all the way down to Alcossebre and then on to Javea or Mazarron, so this area constitutes a stopping off place. We could have stuck a pin in the map for our next resort but I was feeling a bit more calculated so looked at the web sites and reviews. Camping Enmar looked a good place and how right I was. Situated next to the town and 100yds from the beach it is also about 400 yds from a train station that takes you into the middle of Barcelona, so the next time we visit when its cooler we'll try that one. Its also about a twenty minute walk to Callela, a typical Costa Brava tourist hotspot where there is a mile long shopping street, lots of bars and supermarkets.
The promenade at Pineda is quite attractive and you can go on long walks or cycle rides in each direction along tree lined flat pathways. We arrived here on Monday 17th and aim to stay only two nights before heading to the Pyrannees and then into France. Generally the weather has been ideal for us with Jonesy as I would say that the temps have been consistently around 23c, a bit cool for Spain but its really starting to heat up now so we are best heading to a potentially cooler France.

Pineda de Mar beach.

The pool area Camping Enmar.

Pineda de Mar seafront walks

Camping Enmar, well organised.

Pineda de Mar beach.

Jonesy's little mate off the next pitch.

Blanes

Tuesday 11^th June. Blanes.  On arrival in Blanes my first impression was that this place has retained much of its historic character as a 1960’s holiday resort for the budget travellers from the uk and Germany. Concrete and glass seemed to be the dominant architectural feature and there are blue plaques positioned by the Spanish equivalent of our National Trust to commemorate the places where Germans and English fought in hand to hand battles to regain sunbeds. No stop it! It aint that bad!  Its good.

Seriously we drove through Blanes in only the second rainy day of the trip and as we went right through the centre I could see its appeal…loads of bars. Restaurants and even chic designer shops. Quite a bit to do here. We then turned the corner to see the main prom and despite the rain I could see why so many europeans  flocked here in the 60’s and 70’s ….a gorgeous beach and long promenade. The many campsites have been ostracized to the very end of the prom, but again that’s ok, we know our place and it is quieter here.

Thursday 13^th Update. We really like Blanes. I will in future keep my mouth shut when advising other travellers. I actually told a guy back home who was coming to Blanes in a camper to think about other places. How wrong was I and I’m glad to say that he ignored me. We are presently on Solimar Camping but there seem to be quite a few other high quality sites in the area. There are a good choice of supermarkets, bars and restaurant all of varying quality and expense and the beach is superb. Everything seems clean and well looked after. 

Today we had our first ‘bucket and spade’ adventure of the trip, spending an hour on the beach this morning. Went for a dip, it seemed cold but after 5 mins I soon warmed up and had nearly 20 mins swimming in the 18c water. We were intending to only spend 3 nights here but we’ll probably make that 6 and leave after the weekend. Probably head towards Callela another place that I’ve always avoided so I’ll have to eat humble pie again. Although it can be compared to Benidorm I would say that unlike Benidorm, Blanes doesn't feel British and definitely makes you feel as though you are in Spain.

Blanes beach near the camp site area.

Blanes. Looking down to the main town area.

Blanes. The small beach by the harbour.

Blanes. Promenade area in the town.

Blanes ???

Llafranc

I've said it so many times but one day i'll come to Llafranc, out of season of course, and i'll sit at cafe's, bars and restaurants and write that book or play that lies somewhere dormant within me. My only distraction the beautiful turquoise sea with bobbing boats dancing before my eyes. I'll also cast my gaze upon the elegant women that do the seafront parade throughout the day.
But for now we keep returning every few years and wonder if there is a more beautiful stretch of coastline in all of Spain. The fishing villages of Llafranc, Callela de Palagrugel and Tamariu have managed to avoid the 1970's invasion by the European Travel Agencies and so allow the more respectful tourists to visit out of season to experience something of the 'real Spain'. For here there are no English Breakfasts, no Union Jacks, no jugs of sangria or one euro pints. Just calm and serenity and gorgeous coastal pathways. Walked once by the likes of Sinatra, who stayed at the Hotel Llafranc: and also Tom Sharp who would also sit outside the same hotel, writing his books.

Jonesy meets local Welshie Dag who was being walked by a German lady who lives in Guatemala

Callela de Palafrugell

Callela de Palafrugell

"Another year and the same old picture of Llafranc.

Llafrenc Hotel where Sinatra and Tom Sharp stayed.

3 Nights in Playa de Pals.

Its always been a firm favourite and a lot quieter than the likes of L'Estartit. A really nice resort is Playa de Pals at the end of a really long beach. Stayed on Interpals site close to the village. Today Wednesday 5/6 we took another Nostalgic walk to Camping Neptuno where we have many happy memories of holidays with the kids, regular meet ups with our old friends Norman and Anna and lots of struggles dragging all that windsurfing gear down to the beach.

Another nostalgic visit to Camping Neptuno, not the greatest campsite but one of the reasonably priced ones when we visited with the kid in August

Neptuno

Camping Neptuno

Walk south from the main village beach and you will find miles of empty beaches and no signs to ban dogs. A lovely clean beach.

8 days in L'Estartit

Ok it gets slated for being a commercial resort but it wasn't all that bad. Campsite Emporda was within easy walking distance of town, that has a dog beach, some nice restaurants and coffee bars etc so all in all we enjoyed our 8 days. Highlight was definitely watching Liverpool lift the Champions League cup for a 6th time and Jonesy being the main attraction in a packed bar full of people easily distracted from a dull game. Everyone laughed when he broke out into howls and barks as they scored the second goal. We are presently in another of our old favourites...Playa de Pals. Much quieter and peaceful.

Bit of Nostalgia...Vicki's bar where we frequently ate of a night with the kids. Why? Because it was cheap and good and the food came down on a lift from the top floor.

Left ankle mine, other Barbs. Getting really fed up with those retractable dog leads and have binned 3 this year, all the expensive German tape ones. So I got a cheap cord one just so Jonesy can run on the beach. Let him have a run with the lead, he ran off and when it extended it broke and he ran around my leg, the cord wrapped around my ankle and then he sprinted off...burnt my ankle. Minutes later he did the same to Barbs. Daft thing is we went off and bought another tape one. I'll give it 2 weeks before the spring goes on that as well.

Four nights in Roses and then on to L'Estartit.

We had a total of 4 nights in Roses. It was enjoyable and we had some cheap meals out. However having visited Roses so many times we were looking to move to somewhere a bit different and somewhere we could watch the Champions League Final with a bit of an atmosphere. We hadn't actually stayed in L'Estartit (apart from when we bumped into Barbs brother Stephen in about 1990 and they put us up for  a couple of nights) but had ate and drank there many times. We remembered it as an unsophisticated resort catering for the budget coach trip holidaymakers from the uk. It was lively with cheap bars and restaurants. The type of place that would be overrun with sports bars with big screens for the footy.
On arrival (Sunday 26th May) it had changed considerably although it was still low season. The area known for Sports bars etc was now closed down and the resort seemed more up market with a better selection of restaurants. The waterfront seemed to have been given a faceover and generally the resort had a more welcoming feel about it. We looked at a couple of sites but went for Emporda set back from the main road into the resort. Here we found a large grassed camping area with minimal shade, but as it was low season and temps hadn't gone through the roof, this area seemed popular so we had a good choice of pitches with a bit more shade. The site is about a 15 minute walk to the town and has a good sized swimming pool with a Lidl about 5 minutes away on foot. A relaxing quiet site.

Emporda pitch

Dog beach at L'Estartit