Oh, Begur, let me count the ways we love you! First of all we can’t talk about our 24 hours in Begur without talking about the beaches we visited and the treasures we found. If you enjoy rockhounding, or beach combing for that matter, this is a spot to do just that! We left Tossa early enough and our drive was short and sweet so we found ourselves ready to get going before most of Begur had their first cup of coffee. It was way too early to check in to our hotel, so let’s go to some beaches!

Sa Riera was our first stop which is the largest cove in Begur. We had to park pretty far from the actual beach itself, but with us getting there so early it was easy to find a spot and get steps in (not difficult in Europe!).

The beach was sandy and empty. One other couple was on one far side and there was a yogi enjoying the peace. A fun beach bar was open and had music going but it was set farther back on the beach. The beach was full of shells to find, small shells, but beautiful ones. I love curating little spots in our home where we have things to remember different vacations or moments, incorporating pictures or art with these treasures. That, to me, is the perfect souvenir, so at each spot i had a small bag to be able to keep everything separated. The bag for Sa Riera was full.

We had another beach on our list in Begur and that was Sa Tuna. Again, we were there early enough that the parking was not an issue but I can imagine when it is high season or later in the day that it would be (yes, trust Rick Steves on this, and us for that matter- ha!). The beach itself was smaller, and completely different than Sa Riera.

It is a gravel cove in a residential area with so many fun residences with colorful doors lining the cove. There were boats with fishermen on board getting ready for the day and just a few people enjoying the beach. The beach was full of stones, wishing stones to be exact! If you enjoy rockhounding you will know wishing stones and if you don’t know them they are some of our favorites to find.

A wishing stone is a smooth rock marked by a single, unbroken ring, usually white quartz, wrapped around its surface. We do love to find them with multiple rings and designs however. Legend says if you find one, you get to make a wish. Some say you should toss into the sea, others say to keep it close. I like to think the magic is in the moment you find it and you can carry that with you. Sa Tuna was full of them! One of the great things too about rockhounding on the beach is the surf has taken care of so much of your tumbling and they really just need a good polish 🙂

When our treasures are all done tumbling I will make sure to share!

It was still too early to check into our hotel but we decided to go ahead and head into town and get oriented. We were staying at Aiguaclara, a boutique hotel in the center of Begur. It was truly a fabulous spot and our room was as opposite of a shoebox European hotel room as you could imagine. Big bathroom, bedroom and sitting area as well as an entry way, and balconies overlooking the city. We were in room 9, “Begur”.

We had worked up an appetite and asked at the hotel for some recommendations for food in the city. Wow. We had no idea what we were about to get ourselves into! She recommended two different spots and I will just say that the lunch spot was SO GOOD that we went to the second for dinner and this day will go down as one of the best culinary experiences of the trip

Lunch was at Carbo and we are still talking about it! The sangria was fantastic, and for those of you who are curious we loved the cava sangria the most, but we WERE in Spain, so there is that and we also gravitate to mimosas sooooo yeah.

We went with the advice of our waiter and that was perfection. He recommended chorizo, which we were skeptical about but the first bite smacked that thought right out of our heads. The Croquetes de Cabrales were insane. If you love bleu cheese, this would be for you. Crispy balls filled with a creamy, savory béchamel made with Cabrales cheese. YUM!

We shared the Raviolis de car rostida (Roast beef ravioli) and that was incredible as well. When you experience a meal such as this it is your duty to order dessert, so we did just that! Cappucinos for all and we again asked for their recommendation and it was cheesecake as well as passion fruit panna cotta. Um, YES, Yes we will have one of each, “si us plau”!

Here is a good spot to tell you that even though we were in Spain, we were technically in Catalonia, and guess what? They speak Catalan here! So if you find yourself in Costa Brava, you will need to brush up on your Catalan, NOT your Spanish, which I will say we did not find any issues with. Even when it was difficult to communicate we were able to figure it out and everyone was warm and accommodating. They kept bringing us French menus, which was funny, but in the end the language barrier was very easy to navigate!

You may be like me and have always heard how rude Europeans can be toward Americans, but I can tell you that on our travels we have not ONE experience that would back that up. I firmly believe that your own outlook and attitude will shape your experience for the most part – I mean there are those people that are just having a bad day – we have all been there! I have experienced personally more people being rude in American cities than in Europe, so take that as you will. Also we are Texans, and being friendly is in our DNA 😉 All of that to say – in my opinion take everyone’s experiences with a grain of salt and then bring your own good vibes and the good vibes will flow!

Back to dessert! The passion fruit was from Peru I will note, and I only want Peruvian passion fruit from here on out. The panna cotta was insane but the passion fruit with it was just next level. You might be questioning our cheesecake decision but that would only mean you have never experienced the cheesecake at Carbo! It was a dream for someone who enjoys texture with a creamy souflee like layer on bottom and a denser top. Witchcraft I tell you!

We had such a lovely experience while we had our lunch observing the family beside us. There was a table of probably 12 seated right by us and they seemed to be celebrating a special occasion. When they went to toast, it was totally intentional and special, with individuals getting up from their seats to be able to go personally look each person in the eye and “clink” their glass. Jeremy’s family has always been super intentional and fabulously dramatic with their Norwegian “skol” and we love to experience other cultures and their celebratory “cheers”. Whether you skol, or cheers, or salut, try it next time you are enjoying some bubbly, be intentional with your people, look them in the eyes, it’s truly a fabulous connection, and highly entertaining lol!

After this we took off to get some steps in and explore. In the distance stood the fabulous hint of a castle, and that is exactly where we headed. Begur castle is what remains of a 16th-century fort at the top of a hill, with fabulous panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea. I get that the sea provided defense for these people back in the day, but can we also just take a moment to appreciate that it also provided an INSANE aesthetic. Like yes, I will build my castle here with this view thank you very much!

Before we found ourselves back at our hotel we happened to walk past Es Catell and well, they had Stracciatella, and we take our application for our job very seriously so we had to try some. It was fabulous! When we got back to the hotel and reported how amazing the lunch recommendation was we shared we would be going to her other recommendation for dinner. She let us know if we got there at 7:30 we should have no issue because no one would want to eat that early! HA! And then told us to “enjoy our siesta”.

Yes, thank you, we will do just that.

Ok, SURPRISE, so now this is a food blog!

Just kidding – this is not a food blog.

We do however really love good food and when on vacation it is a very big part of the experience for us.

You know the whole, oh this breakfast is fantastic – what should we do for lunch? Oh we should probably look at dinner too while we are at it! Fabulous idea…

You do that too, yes?

Actually we love good food whenever who are we kidding…

We love to immerse ourselves into the local scene and experience it as much like a local as possible, and Begur was very much about the food. We do not normally eat three meals a day at home and it does get to a point you just feel like you are constantly eating, but sharing dishes makes it a lot easier to get to experience so many different spots and tastes and honestly it just WORKS for us.

Dinner was at Turandot. We of course had a glass of their white vermut, which was so refreshing and then happily enjoyed Pan con tomate, fried kale with Moroccan spices (I still think about this one and am excited to try my own version with kale from the garden!), chicken braised canelones with a foie sauce and pine nuts, Iberian Pork with torroella apple chutney and for dessert the tiramisu and of course cappuccinos.

Y’all.

I will cease the food talk on this post but when I tell you that we started to research Begur and the gastronomic scene after we had dinner that should not surprise you! We found a fun patio spot for a nightcap and enjoyed our one and only evening in this charming village.

If you are looking for a sleepy Catalan village to enjoy incredible food and not have the action that some of the other beachfront locations provide, Begur is your spot. While you could walk to the beaches, it is quite a trek, so that makes this a very different destination on Costa Brava, but truly we could not be happier that we made the stop!

Begur fed us well, body and soul, but it was time to trade cobblestone strolls for seaside curves. With the soundtrack of a fabulous playlist we made our way to the edge of the map: dreamy, dramatic Cadaques!

Peace, Love and Fabulous!