Sant Pol Beach

We are incredibly fortunate to have all the beaches on the Costa Brava at our fingertips. We have yet to explore each and every cove, though next summer I plan on renting a boat to do some thorough exploration.

I love taking the kids to the beach, but doing it solo is not always easy, so I try to keep things simple. One of he nearest beaches is located in the small village of S'Agaro and the beach is called Sant Pol. It is roughly 30 minutes from our front door to the sand, so it is a quick trip and parking is usually easy to find as well. It makes for a great half day or day trip from Girona. 

It may be mid-October, but the sun is still shining brightly in Spain. The weather has been glorious and this does not make me miss the cool fall temperatures back in Colorado! This morning we packed some fruit, sandwiches, water, sliced veggies, and some crackers and headed out to the coast to enjoy a day on the sand.

Back in the 1920's a man named Josep Ensesa Gubert wanted to purchase the land on Sant Pol and Sa Conca, another favorite beach of ours, which is the next cove after Sant Pol. Anyway, Josep lacked the proper funds for such a purchase, but his father was a wealthy industrialist in Girona, so he talked his father into making the purchase. Josep did not want the beautiful land to fall victim to land developers and he wanted any buildings to be in harmony with the sea and land, so he hired famous Catalan architect Rafael Maso (he also designed our current apartment building) to design a small sea village.  A few of these still remain on the Sant Pol coastline and one has been purchased and is under renovation. You can see the house in the photos below:

Aurelia loves the beach!

The popular coastal walking trail, the Cami de Ronda, has a great portion from Sant Pol to Sa Conca. If you are hiking with younger children (under the age of 6), I highly recommend this portion. It is a wide and carefully groomed trail with just a handful of easy steps. Other portions of the Cami involve tricky and narrow stairs and cliffs, so this is a trail I can easily do with Eston and Aurelia.

The Hotel de la Gavina is also found in the Sant Pol cove. This hotel is way out of our price range, but if you can afford it, I encourage you to do so because it looks gorgeous! This was one of Elizabeth Taylor's favorite spots to vacation. Other famous people enjoyed their holidays here as well--Sinatra, Welles, Gardner, Bogart, Connery--just to name a few! I believe a few old movies also contain scenes shot on the hotel grounds.

 The kids played with some pals and we enjoyed a great day at the beach. The water isn't chilly quite yet and it feels perfect after a few minutes in the sun. We spent most of the day in the water. The kids play so well at the beach and we had such a fun day! It was just what we needed after a long week of hospitals, school, practices, etc. I feel refreshed and energized for the week ahead.