Besalu, Santa Pau, Calella de Pallafrugel and Llafranc

Today it was my turn behind the wheel, and so far I am confident that I have annoyed the most other drivers on the road. I like the car's warning systems, if you are going too fast it beeps until you are under the limit, but it does get a bit annoying as the speed limit changes frequently in very short spaces. Anyway we all got through my first drive, hopefully I'll improve with more practice.

I started with a walk around our local castle in Figueres, perched on top of the hill behind our house. It took about 45mins to walk the perimeter with magnificent views across to the mountains behind.

We headed off to explore some of the villages nearby. First stop was Besalu. What a beautiful, well maintained and less crowded ancient village. Around every corner was another delightful vista.

Wide verandas around Plaza Meyor kept us cool.

The aqueduct that runs around the village is still in operation feeding the garden plots.

The narrow pathway around the perimeter.

And the lovely bridge leading into town.

The next stop was at Santa Pau, yet another cute, well preserved village in the volcanic region higher up in the mountains. There are lots of hiking tracks up to the craters above and to neighbouring villages. No time for hikes today but another excuse to return to Spain sometime.

There is no way I way I'm going to drive into the old part of any of these little villages, far too narrow for my nerves!

Time to hit the beach, after a long steep and windy decent. We weren't the only ones heading to the coast and parking was at a premium. After negotiating some of the tiny one way streets closer to the beach we realised you'd have to get there pretty early in the day to secure a spot. The Costa Brava is dotted with many small beaches fairly close together. Where possible, houses and cafes line the coast. These front row houses at Calella de Pallafrugel have their own beach boxes underneath. The water was fresh and clear with lots of fish.

The beach was still crowded at 6pm.

Just along the coast is Llafranc, about 15 minutes walk away.

Time to battle the beach traffic and head back home to Figueres. Searching for an open supermarket got us a bit tangled in a maze of narrow one way streets somewhere in the boondocks of Figueres, and t was a huge relief to get back hone unscathed.