Page 115 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA
P. 115

dozen pale pink specimens high-stepping
            among the marshes.
               While bird-watching may be the main at-
            traction of the Delta for many, it’s the pan-
            cake-flat landscape that appeals to me. We
            enjoy a morning of effortless cycling around
            L’Ampolla, following a coastal route past a
            sandy white beach before veering off onto
            gravel trails threading through the marshes.
            Despite the heat, we’ve hardly broken a
            sweat by the time we arrive at Port d’Illa
            Harbor, where we’ve arranged a boat tour of
            the oyster and mussel beds in El Fangar Bay
            with Mirador de La Badia.
               Our captain sluices between skeletal
            wooden platforms made of sun-bleached
            logs which squat low above the shallow
            seabed. We have an opportunity to sample
            these fruits of the sea for ourselves when we
            dock alongside an overwater restaurant,
            where a cheerful group clad in swimsuits are
            enjoying glasses of cava with fresh mussels
            and oysters, and when I say fresh, I mean
            fresh. A fisherman scampers across an ad-
            joining platform with the alacrity of a gym-
            nast on a balance beam, clutching a sack full
            of shellfish, and soon we, too, are slurping
            oysters and gobbling mussels as greedily as
            popcorn at a blockbuster film.

               Reluctantly abandoning the coast, we
            head further inland towards the north to
            discover still more dramatic scenery. In Tor-
            tosa, we sleep in a stately castle converted


           A Spainish feast. Right: Effortless
           cycling around L’Ampolla. Left: The
           captain sluices between skeletal
           wooden platforms made of sun-
           bleached logs near the overwater
           restaurant. Copyright Amy
           Laughinghouse.













                                                                       WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM               115
   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120