Short Spanish trips, Sun, 23 Aug 2020 | written by Simon
Jemma and Simon at a Lake in Europe, Spain

There is green in Spain! And real forests! We were quite shocked, to be honest. Actual verdant green trees and grass – didn’t think that was a thing here. But near Banyoles it is.

This smallish lake is the largest in Catalunya, which already says something. It is lovely and calm here, but quite confusing when it comes to access. There is a path going around, but the only parking spots are in the town on one side, plus a couple by the church on the opposite side. We opted for the latter and spent some lovely quiet moments on a small jetty.

After some reading and more sleep for Jemma, we fancied a swim. But there is no access to the water on this side – we had to go back to town. Where it turned out that the only two beaches are private and paid. We found out there is another public beach just North of the town and set of just to get pulled by the police for accidentally driving into a one way street the wrong way. The police informed us that the public beach is actually just about to close. Great. We headed back to one of the paid ones, only to find that it is also now closing.

What the hell?! Why are those beaches private and timed?! I know that water is a precious resource in Spain, but it’s not going to disappear if people swim after 7pm! How disappointing…

We ended up driving for a while looking for a parking spot for the night, and ended up finding a really cool one on Park4Night – by a sculpture park!