The fish route

The appearance of towns such as Calella de Palafrugell, Tamariu, Llafranc or Cadaqués, allows us to perceive the close cultural and economic ties between the ancient inhabitants of the Costa Brava and the sea and fishing activity.

Our fish route focuses in Palamós and l'Escala, two towns that grew and prospered thanks to fishing and their relationship with the sea.

L'Escala

We start our route in l'Escala, a town known in the gastronomic world for its very important salted fish industry.

Our starting point will be the port, which you will find very easily going down Avinguda de Riells. If you do this route during the months of July and August, it is highly recommended that you get up early and sign up for the "Blue fish auction and fisherman's lunch" activity organised by the Fish Interpretation Centre, where you can experience first-hand the unloading and auctioning of the fish, and start the day with a good breakfast of fresh produce.

If you visit the port of L'Escala at Christmas time, you may be able to meet the famous Trini tuna, a regular tourist at this time of year.

Once we have visited the port area, we move on to the Anchovy and Salt Museum, located on l'Escorxador street, at the other end of L'Escala. This space allows us to learn about the history of fishing and salting from the 16th century to the present day.

In the same area you will find many of the anchovy factories of l'Escala. Some of them are adapted to receive visitors and, for the price of admission, you can enjoy a tasting of this delicious product. It is advisable to find out the opening times and the convenience of booking in advance.

At lunchtime, we have different options:

• Return to the port of l'Escala to continue enjoying the local gastronomy in one of its restaurants, such as La Llar dels Pescadors.
• Take the car heading Palamós and stop in a village such as Pals, where you can enjoy its magnificent rice dishes.
• Head directly to the last point on our route, Palamós. - Depending on the time of year, in the restaurants of the bay we can enjoy different gastronomic campaigns, such as: The Prawn Menu, the Crayfish Menu or the Fish Pot Menu.

Palamós

After lunch we will head to the Port of Palamós, where the Fishing Museum is located. This space has a very complete permanent exhibition that allows us to learn about the maritime heritage of Palamós and the Costa Brava, as well as the fishing activity in its past, present and future.

To complete our visit, we recommend you to take a look at the interesting range of activities on offer at the Espai del Peix, where you can sign up for a guided tour for the fish auction, attend a showcooking session, a guided tour with prawn tasting, a family workshop on seafood knots, etc.

To round off our route, we'll go to the Palamós fish market, which is opened every afternoon from Monday to Friday. It is quite a busy place, but it is well worth a stroll to see the counters full of freshly caught fish. Here we can buy the excellent and highly prized Palamós prawns, or some fresh fish to enjoy a magnificent dinner at home. A delicious end to our day.