Delta de Ebre
While easier than last summer, travel has still been pretty unpredictable this year. We booked a trip to Sardinia that we had to abandon because Vueling canceled our flights and there were no others to be had. We briefly considered taking the ferry from Barcelona, but decided it was too much for a one-week jaunt. It's a 12-hour ride (overnight from Barcelona to Porto Torres) and its real advantage is that you can take car and dog. We have no car, and the dog would have been just as happy at the residencia canina. So we took it as a sign that we were meant to stay in Catalunya and booked a trip to the Ebre Delta.
The topography of the delta is completely different from the now-familiar Catalan hills. It is completely flat, covered with rice paddies and a network of canals that feeds them. The landscape is distinct and beautiful, with the hills as a backdrop. In the afternoon, the western sun gives the mountains an ethereal quality.
In the morning, the effect is totally different.
We rented a house in the village of Poble Nou del Delta – New Town. The village was built during the Franco era and used to be called Vilafranco. It's pretty sleepy, with only 250 permanent residents, and no shops except for a tiny bodega.
The flatness of the land makes it ideal for exploration by bicycle. It's the perfect way to get around, but also very hot under the relentless July sun. Needless to say, there isn't a lot of shade in a landscape dominated by rice paddies.
Despite its small size, Poble Nou has a host of very good restaurants, and food was a highlight of the trip. The Delta is ground zero for paella – land of rice and seafood. Paella is often described as a Valenciano dish, but the Delta is just a few kilometers from the Valencian border. We ate baked paella and saucy pan-cooked arroz caldoso. We tried duck and eel paella, a delta specialty. Delta residents produce many rice-based products, including local sake and rice beer. Strangely, I didn't notice rice pudding on any menus, but Ed ordered a dessert of menjarblanc, blancmange, a sort of custard made of rice, which was very tasty.
The delta is home to huge numbers of birds, and birdsong is ever-present in Poble Nou. It is also very buggy. Thankfully they are wise to window screens, when push comes to shove. The mosquitos are bad enough that eating outside at dinner time isn't really feasible, which threw a wrench into our covid protocols. We tried to eat outside one night and regretted it – our waiter that night explained that July was nothing compared to September, when the rice is harvested. Fortunately, the town was pretty deserted on weeknights, so we had the restaurants almost to ourselves.
The traditional building type of the delta has a roof that looks similar to thatch. It is made in layers, with some sort of membrane or net that prevents birds from taking bits out of it for their nests.
A vast pergola at the Platja del Trabucador, next to the chiringuito (beach bar, I love that there is a special word for this).
Where the delta meets the sea there are beautiful long sandy beaches without the crowds of the mainland. Henry was hoping for bigger waves but still enjoyed himself.
