The L'Estartit days of the late 1980's or early 90's are long gone.

I'm 38 now and really enjoy a mix of excitement and serenety. Campsites aside (I never stayed at them), I can only comment on the

town itself.

It's easier if I make a list:

1) Many of the hotels (which were'nt IIRC overwhelming compared to Benidorm etc) remain, however the individual apartments within

the complexes are almost without exception privately owned by weekend visitors from Barcelona & surrounding areas.

Although this ensures they appear well kept to the onlooker, it ensures they are for the most part unavailable for tourists (a

fair point as they are now private) which presents a sad vista to the (nostalgic) onlooker with 70-80% of the hotel apartments

shuttered during the high season.......... They were'nt grand designs to begin with, but i'd rather see cheap beach towels hanging

over their balconies than them become lifeless closets opened once a month by the Nouve riche Barcalona set.......... WHO I

must add (new paragraph needed here).....

.... WHO buy little or no local Le'Estartit fresh produce and transport it from Barca (grown I might add, using water from our

precious 'Ter').


2) Here's a good thing; The main shopping street 'Carrer de Santa Anna' (which runs off the 'Passeig Marítim' roundabout (200m

left from Kim's Bar), still has some quality shops all he way up to the church (maybe 1.5km). The Churros takeaway is still there,

good leather to be had.... sadly the Phalic animated toys are gone but it's ok........

There used to be some cracking Tapas bars there, all along... sadly they're almost all gone, except one on the left (300m from the

seaward side of Santa Anna) and one local haunt 100m past the church on the right. All the others serve non local tapas (ffs, the

sea is 600m away, yet the gambas (prawns) are frozen imports.

The hotels that remain near to Santa Anna St served tourist crap.... you wanted burgers they gave you burgers..... now it's worse.

....................................................................

Here's the crusher for me..... If you ventured south of Santa Anna St, did a left, got lost, did a riht you'd come across a

wonderfull. wonderfull bar. It wasn't English, it wasn't Spanish, it was a perfect mix.... large, great food, hospitality to die

for...... not rowdy, nothing like that... just needed a log fire and it would be nirvana...... I spent 2 weeks looking for it,

down every side street, convinced my bearings were all wrong....... it was exquisite.

I found it.... It's a block of unfinished apartments... I swear I shed a tear.

3) The beach................. Still awesome, very, very slow gradient, perfect for kids.... windy as buggery but best in the Costa

Brava.

4) The Cove..... some might remember it (15-20 years ago); Head past the harbour (remember when you could fish that?... not now

sunbeam), head past the Club Nautico Apts... walk along the 'Passeig del Mollinet' and you'd come to a cliff on your right & left

and you could swim the cove at the bottom..... not now you can't... huge fence there now.....

5) Mopeds: Try hring one now...... good luck.

6) The Square.... done to death in other posts... it looks like a bomb site, there are reasons for it's decline, and some are fair

enough.... but still... some hang on there but the days are gone........ IIRC The square was always a bit of a crap hole (can I

say that)... I went there (L'Estartit) from 12 until I was 20.... I prefered Maxim's etc..... I did pop into a bar on the square

in 2008... christ is was dodgy... full of Moors, all peddling. I have pictures of the rovers etc on my Camera, but it would make

you sad to see them.

*Next bit is due to almost no exchange shops about)

7) Lack of currency exchange: Hotels excepted (I guess)..... There used to be a plethora of changing units.... not now. Banks are

your lifeline... and they hate you.... however, they do open at the following times: a) When you don't need Euros; b) Roughly when

you are roughly 1km from the bank in need of acceptable currency. Banks in L'Estartit have subtle closing time....... for example;

(This bit is a maybe a bit mean)

If you are suitably attired but somewhat lost, they will close the doors upon realisation from a friendly passer by.

If you are sunburnt, overwieght, wearing flip flops & ugly, they will point you in the direction of a supermarket, and then close.

If you only have foreign money on a Saturday they will be closed.

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*** A GOOD THING TO SAY ***

There is still this daft train (wheels/tyres etc) which runs from the East point of the Harbour all the way to what used to be

called Los Griels. It's good value.... EU 2.50 return or IIRC EU 10.00 for ten trips. Trust me it's a long walk from the harbour

to Griels and the fella will stop you off and pick you up at almost any point. It's better and *much* cheaper than the taxis, plus

you get to see some countryside you'd miss otherwise. ............ He runs evry 30 minutes......... tbh about the only thing left

in L'Estartit from the old days.

9) ** KIMS Bar ** is still there, old school I know but it's something.

LAST THING:

******* FISHING *********

2KM north of the harbour is a canalised stretch of the River Ter (for those that didn't know Torrollela de Montgri used to be a large trading port on the Med, it since silted up & now is 3KM inland). The canal from Torrolella to the sea was build during the 1970's as a deep channel for irrigation & flood defense).

Translating from spanish documents the flow averaged 80% through Torrella to the med, with an sustainable amount taken via irrigation to the fields alongside. Today 76% of the flow from the Ter is now being diverted to Barcelona. The once great (and I really mean great fishery aolong that canal) is all but destroyed. In 1986 I landed over 200lb of Wild carp in an afternoon as a child... last year I managed 1 crucian and 1 1lb Wildie. The desalination plant due to come online next year may aliviate these concerns, but I fear they heyday has long gone.

Ter aside, go throw some bread in the harbour in the evening and watch the biggest mullet i've ever seen feed. You can't catch them, but they're nice to see.

*** I've has a couple of swallies maybe, but Estartit has had it's day...i'm sure the camp sites are great... but the 1980's are gone.

Night Friends.