A Beautiful Rainy Day in Palamos

Sunday started with breakfast at 9:30am.

I would never usually have considered 9:30am early, but after breakfast at 8:30am the day before and being on the go all day, an extra hour of sleep seemed like a luxury. After breakfast, we went to the fishing museum in Palamos. Palamos is a little fishing town, and on the older side of town they still auction off the fish caught that day by the waterfront in the afternoon. I can’t say I’m very fond of either fish or tours, so I did not have high hopes for my morning. However, the museum really wasn’t bad. There were all kinds of artifacts from Palamos’ long history, and there were models of all the kinds of nets the fisherman used in years past and today.

After we left the museum, we had a nice lunch and a cooking demonstration. I was wary because I don’t eat fish, and Palamos is known for their excellent seafood, so I figured lunch would most likely come from the sea. The first course was a dish of fish and potatoes. I ate my potatoes warily, while everyone chided me for not eating such great food. I deserved it, too- I don’t know why I’m such a picky eater! I made up for it, though, during the main course. We watched as the chefs prepared the fideuà, noodles, and seafood cooked in fish broth. There wasn’t any actual fish in the dish, just a fish broth that had been cooked with seafood so soak up the flavors. As I took my first few nervous bites, I found that it really wasn’t bad at all. You couldn’t really taste the fish, and I tried to think of it as a kind of Spanish lo mein (again, a waste of amazing food, I know). But I ate the whole plate! Maybe I’ll never try mussels or calamari, but at least I conquered fideuà.

After lunch, we had some “free time.” I lay on the beach with some friends and read. I would have gone shopping, but in Spain basically everything is closed on Sundays. We weren’t laying out in bikini’s though; it was actually kind of cold and windy, even though the sun was out! After a little while, we left for a hike along the coastline. I like hiking about as much as I like tours and fish, but who can complain about hiking when you’re hiking along the beautiful Costa Brava coastline?

At least that’s what I thought until the rain started pouring. Twice we had to stop and take shelter at beach bars we passed. I even got a few cortados to warm me up. Even though it was raining and I was dreaming about being dry and warm on the bus, the scenery was still beautiful. To kill some time before the bus met us at the end of the hike, we walked to Salvador Dali’s house, which is really a cabin in the woods with a sideways door. Dali did go there to paint, though, and despite being a little anti-climactic it was still cool to see.

By Kelly Greacen, Boston University