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Picture it: Lloret de Mar, Catalonia. 2012. A young girl stands in a blue tank top and hopes her flimsy strapless bathing suit top will withstand the vigors of a hike along the Costa Brava coast.
Well, um, except that young girl was me, and that top, a magenta bandeau that I found for $12 at H&M and immediately deemed a steal, was clearly not made for the purposes of hiking. Frugality has its drawbacks.
I dressed for swimming. Sea kayaking was the excursion originally scheduled for this morning, but high waves have prevented an outing for a group of travel bloggers whose collective kayaking experience would be described as dubious at best, laughable at worst. (There goes my training for my hypothetical future trip to Antarctica, I think with a grimace.)
No, kayaking is off the table today — but it’s a perfect morning for Nordic Walking along the coastal path that covers Lloret de Mar.
We are to be led by two Scandinavian men clad in body-hugging spandex from head to toe, ski poles firmly in their hands. Their names, uttered in a lightning-fast and unfamiliar cadence, escape me. I privately dub them Sven and Sven, and we set off.
Lloret de Mar has a bit of a strange identity. You’ll find high-end tourists here, spending their days lounging by the infinity pool and dining on spicy spider crab and rice in beachfront restaurants.
But more common are the Brits on cheap package holidays, jumping overzealously into the only real sunshine they’ll see this year. 24 hours in, they end up curled up in the fetal position, sunburned and hungover, beneath a beach umbrella.
That part? Not so attractive. But once you get beyond the beachfront with the cheap package motels and kebab stands, you’ll find a coastal path that is unfathomably gorgeous.
The path is free to hike, and various hiking routes continue all the way up and down the Costa Brava coast. It’s easy — rather than struggling alone dirt paths cut with tree routes, this is a well-maintained tiled route. The only hard part? Lots of staircases.
And it is all very much worth it. Climbing this path feels like strolling through an ancient Mediterranean village, set precariously upon the sea.
Fifteen minutes in, Sven and Sven have vanished from the pack, and are likely doing squats and lunges over the ocean’s edge by now, toasting each other with Aquavit. It’s the usual conundrum of a blog trip. Local tour leaders aren’t briefed on the nature of travel bloggers — that we photograph everything in sight, even edit photos on our phones, and update constantly with Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We take much longer than usual tours.
Most guides are good-natured about it. A few become cross.
But how could you look at a view like that and not want to photograph every last inch of it?
Finally, we make it to the greatest viewpoint of all. Standing on the overlook, watching the waves crash over those jagged rocks as the early morning sunshine swept over the coastline, I drink in the image before me. This is the Mediterranean at its very best.
What vanished faster, I wonder?
Sven and Sven, the Scandinavian fitness junkies? A platter of jamon iberico in front of me on any given day?
Or any doubts that Costa Brava was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen?
Many thanks to Visit Costa Brava and TBEX for hosting me in Lloret de Mar. All opinions, as always, are my own.
I was going to say I had only heard about it before because us UK students go on ‘tour’ which unfortunately means living up to the British tourist stereotype in Spain and then some. I think that’s the beauty about most resorts like Lloret de Mar – once you get away from the holiday resort area, you discover some hidden treasures.
Indeed. These places became famous in the first place for a reason!
Really well written! Loved your narrative and the pics are fab!
Thanks, Oneika!
Yeah, that´s perfectly right, you have to search a little bit, but then you can find beautiful treasures in the area of Lloret de Mar, at some places you will find the really unspoilt Costa Brava.
If you haven´t been there yet, I would recommend you a visit of the botanic garden Santa Clotilde at Fenals, one part of Lloret de Mar.
It looks beautiful with its orange tress, cypresses, statues and different terraces overlooking the Mediterranean.
I did go to the botanic gardens as well, Sussy. A really nice place! (And with views of a distant nude beach, too!)
Lloret de Mar certainly does provoke the odd cringe given its reputation for the Brits Abroad thing. But this just proves that there’s more to every place than meets the eye. I think the word to sum those views up is “stunning”!
Love the photos!
Amazing description! I can almost feel the sun and sea 🙂 I can say from experience, it’s definitely worth investing in at least one really tough swim suit. The top of my last one got taken by a rather unruly ocean. Awkward…
Love this post! It looks beautiful–I can see why you couldn’t stop taking photos!
Such beautiful water. Reminds me of New Zealand! The bluest blues.
It really looks beautiful and rather romantic!
Wow, it’s so pretty!!! I’m a sucker for coastal views like that.
I went to Lloret de Mar as a 17 year old almost 15 years ago on one of those package holidays. It was fun as a youngster, but I wouldn’t go there again now. The coastal path looks more like my type of place now.
Beaches are really close to my heart. I love the sunset and coastline. Thanks for sharing.
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I am so excited to be going to Lloret de Mar for TBEX!! Thanks for this great article!! Now to plan our road trip!!!
Lloret de Mar is an amazing place to go for summer! I have been there several time out of season, like in september. Really good place to relax with plenty of things to see in the area around. As I am working in an event promotion company in London, I have attended some travel events about Spain and Catalonia even though I knew that it is a very touristic place in summer, especially for students, I was surpised by how many tourists go there in summer. More than 500.000 peoples! Whereas the population for the rest of the year is only about 40.000 people.
Thomas @ Jorlio.com