Hostal Sa Rascassa

It all started a few weeks back when I was leafing through the Sunday papers and noticed an article about the best beaches in the world, or somesuch. Being a beachy kind of person, but hating sand (you figure it out), I'd always fancied a sexy beach. The type you get in remote Caribbean hideaways. Anyway, blow me, but the writer mentioned one on the Costa Brava so I mentioned it to my beloved to see if she was interested. We had already arranged to drive to Barcelona this week, to meet friends (AJ, Holly, Chris and Annie), so my beloved thought what could be better than breaking the journey, for a night or two, on an idyllic beach in Spain.

Hostal Sa Rascassa (www.hostalsarascassa.com), was the hotel mentioned, so she booked. Oscar, the English speaking proprietor, told us that the hotel was full on Thursday but had a room free on Wednesday. OK, said my beloved, not wanting to miss a trick, we'll come on Wednesday, set off a day early, and sort the rest out later. I should also point out that the restaurant is closed for dinner on Wednesdays, out of season, he said, so she booked for lunch.

We didn't leave the house until 09.30 and this put pressure on the journey because I felt that arriving around 13.00 we might not get in for lunch. This was with my French hat on. What I'd forgotten was that the Spanish don't start lunch until much later in the day and despite driving my nuts off, and arriving at 13.15, we found that the restaurant didn't open until 13.30.

Oscar greeted us at the door and, in perfect English, showed us the ropes. The article had given a great boost to his business and business was booming. He was a happy man.

The hotel is set at the end of a narrow road, in a small idyllic, quiet bay, a couple of kilometres from Begur. The five rooms were simple, and comfortable rather than luxurious. You can eat either indoors or outside on the terrace, which is where I'm writing this guff under a banyan tree (you wouldn't know a banyan tree if you were hanging from it - Ed) and choose from a simple menu with a good choice of meat or fish. Apart from the usual, I don't have a great Spanish wine knowledge, but Oscar sorted me out and advised on a Do Pla de Bages, Abadal, Picapoll, Blanca, which was inexpensive and fabulous. Three out of five for the food but five out of five for the wine.

Whilst we were discussing the wine a small plate of large green olives appeared. Now my favourite olives are the one stuffed with anchovy. They’re so sweet and the taste combination is, for me, fantastic. These were similar but they weren’t stuffed they just had the same taste. It turns out that they had been soaked in an anchovy flavoured liquid, were therefore much cheaper to buy, just as flavoursome and you got to munch on whole olives. Excellent.

After a nice starter of chiperones and calamares, I followed with baked Dorada whilst Jan had sardines. Both were good. Frankly, the puds were not too good, but this was more than offset by the excellent wine.

So where was this flat, sun kissed, warm, rocky beach that had so attracted us? We set off to explore by following the coastal path for a short distance but it certainly wasn’t in sight of the hotel and, because the whole cove was deserted, there was no one to ask. There were plenty of rocks, some dropping straight into the sea and, in my opinion; they were mostly too dangerous to swim off, but nothing as described or as shown in the article.

If you fancy a relatively inexpensive seaside break, out of season, then this is delightful. Cala Aiguafreda, which is where the hotel is situated, is accessed by a steep road that meanders down and around a craggy pine covered cliff face until it meets the sea in a beautiful and relatively unspoilt little cove. Recommended.

I'm sorry if I've mispelled anything but I presume that because I'm in Spain the spell check thinks I'm Spanish and tells me that everything is spelt incorrectly. You figure!