Last weekend saw us
making our annual visit to Begur on the Costa Brava. We stayed in the family run Hotel Rosa, where
we always try to stay. And we did the
scenic walk from Begur down to Sa Tuna where we sipped beer and ate boquerones and
watched the wind whipping up the sea in the normally tranquil bay. The
next day, in glorious sunshine, we walked along the coast to Sa Riera and then
back inland on GR92 path (the same walk we did last year see early blog
entry). In the evening we took a hike up
to Begur castle. 
In 1577 a general royal
permit was announced to build towers for defence against pirate raids and so
the area is dotted with these stone defence towers. The towers usually had two or three floors
and the occupants used a removable ladder to climb up to the upper floors. Stones and other heavy objects were kept on
the roof to throw down at enemies. Many
of these towers have been restored and now form part of posh villas. Begur has some beautiful colonial houses. Many of which were built by inhabitants of
Begur who returned after making their fortune in Cuba. There is one for sale with a whopping price
tag of 2.9 million Euros! I think we’ll
stick to visiting!
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| The snow-capped Pyrenees in the distance! |
Looks wonderful. The stone towers sound a bit like the Genoese ones that were built around the Corsican coast for defensive purposes. I especially love the view of the Pyrenees - I saw them from the other side last Monday at Toulouse, and they were equally spectacular. You don't often see them like that.
ReplyDeleteThe Pyrenees are beautiful and it is always a joy to see them. No such luck for me yesterday when I went to Toulouse - too cloudy!
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