Day
1
Fly to Barcelona or Girona and transfer to the delightful Costa Brava resort of Roses, set beneath ancient fortifications on the sweeping Golf de Roses. Settle into your comfortable hotel and, depending on your arrival time, perhaps enjoy a stroll along the beach to the harbour and marina, where you’ll see some gleaming leisure craft, before dinner is served.
Day
2
This morning, you’re free to explore the pleasant surroundings of your holiday base. Roses has been settled since the days of the Ancient Greeks, but is now a colourful, typically Catalan resort, with a host of bars, restaurants, cafes, and other diversions to enjoy.
Don’t miss the included ride on the tractor-hauled, tourist road train, the Roses Express, which winds its way at an anything but express pace – into the wooded hills of the Cap de Creus Natural Park above the resort. Expect some wonderful views along the coastline.
Other sites to see in and around the resort include the ruins of the 16th-century citadel walls and Trinitat Castle, and some fascinating ancient dolmen burial sites.
Roses still functions as a working fishing port, and so seafood is the most popular fare here, and those preferring food to sightseeing will enjoy tasting the local speciality, suquet de peix – a fish and potato stew served with a flourish in most of the town’s many restaurants.