Roses and Besalu

On Saturday Carlos, a friend of Brian and Ramon who also works in the shop took us to Roses, a beautiful little town about 15 km from Peralada. We had planned to go to the beach and maybe even have a swim. It was a little overcast and after 30 minutes of attempted sun bathing we decided it was too cold and went to explore instead. Roses has two castles, one at either end and a strip of beach with touristy shops along the middle. Amazed by the views and beauty of Roses we didn`t even take pictures of the castles.

The cuisine there is more English than it is Spanish, you are more likely to get egg and chips than paella. Not wanting to to pay for English food or to go into one of the castles, we trekked up to the far castle and took in the impressive views.It is lovely to see clear blue water and big snowy mountains at the same time on a nice sunny day. 

Our lunch 

For lunch we went to the Spar and bought two french sticks a tub of alioli and a tin of olives, we sat on a bench and had our more typically Spanish lunch than we could of got from the local restaurants. Budget travellers as we are. Carlos also showed us how to make alioli, Jack`s favorite dipping sauce. It is surprisingly easy to make and after seeing what goes in there it`s not that pleasant to eat anymore. Alioli is basically garlic, raw egg and tons of olive oil.

On Monday Ramon took us to Besalu a picturesque medieval town, mostly restored between the 11th and 14th century Besalu has a heavy Jewish influence with the remains of an old Synagogue and a Jewish bath. The most renowned part of Besalu is the old medieval bridge offering great views into Besalu and the surrounding areas.

We didn`t realise that Monday is a day off for all the Spanish people as it gets so busy over the weekend and everyone needs a break. It was quite nice to wander around this empty town. Although it would have been nice to not have had to persuade a hotel owner to make us a coffee on her day off. Everything was shut down and it felt a bit like a beautiful ghost town. Luckily with a bit of local knowledge from the hotel owner we were taken to seemingly the only open restaurant in Besalu for lunch. All in all we had a great day in Besalu with uncle Brian.