Cala Canyelles
La Mercé, on September 24, is a celebration of Barcelona's patron saint, Mare de Deu de la Mercé. Sadly, it isn't a great year to celebrate - it's traditionally a street festival with lots of crowds, human towers and pyrotechnics. Last year we were still getting our bearings and weren't organized enough to see one of the correfocs - fire runs - or get in position for a good view of the human towers. The celebration was planned in a modified form this year - the Barcelonés are very committed to keeping their usual festivities going, modified to suit the pandemic.
Nevertheless, we decided to take advantage of an extra day off to make a weekend trip up the Costa Brava. We hadn't been to the beach at all this summer, so I chose a seaside community about an hour north of Barcelona. Cala Canyelles is an urbanizació: a planned community, often located on the outskirts of a town and intended for second residences. (It's unclear to me whether it is like an American homeowner's association, with fees and its own rules.) At its center was a huge restaurant and a shared swimming pool.
The development is dense, with the houses packed tightly together that cascaded down the hills, affording wonderful views of the water and cliffs.
Many houses had beautifully landscaped gardens.
A series of stairways tucked between houses provide pedestrian routes down to the water.
There was a beautiful public beach with an adjacent yacht club and a few more restaurants.
We walked part of the spectacular Cami (Camino) de Ronda from Cala Canyelles to the Castell d'en Plaja, on the outskirts of Lloret de Mar. This Castell, one of many landmarks accessible from the Camino, is a private residence.
Lloret de Mar, seen beyond the Castell, is incredibly built-up, exemplary of Mediterranean package tourism.
The Camino, extending from Blanes north to Portbou, was created in the 19th century by connecting old footpaths along the Costa Brava. Constructed to facilitate patrol of the coastline, it is now part of a 583 km trail along the Mediterranean. Part of the route we walked had been moved away from the coast onto the streets of the neighborhood, because of the washout of the cliffside path. The seaside portion is breathtaking.
