Sant Pol de Mar

About 55′ train ride from Barcelona is Sant Pol de Mar, a quiet and nice seaside town on the Costa Brava. The plan was to head out on saturday morning, around 9 am, with some friends but after a late night on friday (you can read about that here) Alan and I settled with our friend Naomi to meet at Plaza Catalunya at noon. The rest of the gang slept in and decided not to go.

We made it to the 12:18 train and had a pleasant train ride north. The train rides along the coast, right by the beach – pleasant for us but not so pleasant for many coastal communities which sees its access to the sea cut by roads and train tracks – an after many very pleasant-looking beaches, we arrived at Sant Pol

We walked a little to the left, away from the train station, and found one nice beach after another. Despite the coarse sand – not my thing – the beach was VERY nice. The water was crystal clear and the temperature just right. Must bring snorkeling kit next time! The ambience was also much nicer than in Barcelona. We felt at ease and had no worries about pickpockets or the like. After a while at the beach, Naomi and I set out to find a place for lunch. At the next beach we found a busy seaside restaurant serving what looked like really nice paella. We went back for Alan and the three of us lined up to get a table. We ha to wait a while but it was well worth it! We had gazpacho, calamares & one of the best paellas I’ve had so far. We also tried a young, fizzy, white wine from Galicia that goes particularly well with seafood. After two bottles, coffee and dessert we were ready for a nap. By that point the sun had eased a bit and we went back to the beach, where we slept until 7 pm. Naomi, Alan and I then set out to explore the town a bit and here are some of the images I got of a wonderful day:

We definitely need to go back!! We may go again next weekend…