Follow any road away from the sea for twenty minutes, and everything changes — the air, the buildings, the pace.
The monastery rises out of a massif of strange, serrated rock — visible from Santa Susanna on a clear day. A day trip worth making for the boys' choir at noon and the cable-car views alone.
One of Catalonia's best-preserved medieval villages, set on a hill above the rice fields. Walk the narrow streets, look for the Gothic arches. At Christmas it hosts one of the finest living nativities in the Empordà.
A small walled town on the way inland, just twenty minutes from our door. Each spring, around Holy Week, its fortress opens for three days of artisans, processions, and falconry — the Fira Medieval, now nearing its thirtieth year.
A stone village cut almost literally out of the rock — its name means "carved stone". Tiny, walkable in an hour, but memorable for much longer.
A walled Empordà village built around the castle of the Rocabertí family, with a fourteenth-century convent and some of Catalonia's oldest wineries.
In July and August, the castle gardens become one of the country's finest music venues — the Festival Castell de Peralada, with opera, classical music, and dance, returning every summer since 1987. During Holy Week, a smaller cycle of chamber concerts is held inside the Church of Carme.
