Tossa del Mar, where beautiful beaches and culture meet

Located on the Girona coast at half way between the city of Barcelona and the French border, Tossa del Mar is an ancient fisherman's village with an important cultural backgroud, that has become more and more an emblematic touristic destination with its unique beaches and landscapes. In fact it is considered one of the best summer destinations in Costa Brava.

On this Easter holidays some of us went there to spend some good time and sunbathe, and at the end we discovered a real beautiful village that can offer more than beautiful sea and beaches, it is a concentrate of culture too, from prehistory until the 20th century.

Tossa del Mar is the only village in Costa Brava that has protected and safeguarded its old defensive wall and castle, built in order to protect its people from the attack of Moors pirates. The original structure dates from the 13th century, composed by walls with four large towers and three cylindrical ones. Among these the best-known ones are Joanàs Tower overlooking the bay, the Clock Tower at the entrance of the parade ground (there was the only public clock in the city), and Codolar Tower, overlooking Codolar beach. Moreover very beautiful is the Villa Vella, with its narrow cobbled streets and typical houses. In the 15th and 16th century, age of splendor, the town was composed only by 80 houses, then it started to expand beyond the walls until it became the village of today. Inside the Villa Vella there are many late-Gothic 15th and 16th century buildings like the old church of Sant Vicenç, substituted by a new one in 1755 built in Plaça de la Iglesia, or the beautiful Chapel of Mare de Déu del Socors. However, as I already said, in Tossa del Mar you can find some prehistoric and roman remains like Els Ametllers, one of the most importants villas in the ancient Roman province of Tarraco, discovered in 1914.

At the same time, Tossa is a good choice even if you're just looking for some beautiful beach with crystal clear water, or if you just want to spend a day in contact with nature. In late Spring in particular, when it isn't too crowded, you can enjoy the silence of nature, appreciate areas of great natural beauty, and have a really good time doing some picnic on the beach or sunbathing.

In Tossa there are four different beautiful beaches: the biggest one is Platja Gran, from the promontory of Villa Vella to Gavina Joan memorial. Then there are Platja del Reig and Platja del Mar Menuda where you can even do scuba diving, and last but not least there is Es Codolar, where old fishermans usually fix their boats.

So, are you ready to go to Tossa? Enjoy the photos below and don't waste more time!