Alex Trelinski
A CATALUNYA town offers a real flavour of Venice without having to fly to Italy and to pay the high prices when you get there.
Empuriabrava- known as the ‘town of bridges’- with a population of around 8,000 is part of the Castellon de Empuries municipality in the Alto Emporda region in Girona province.
The Costa Brava town is backed by the Emporda Marshes Natural Park and has a beach that is 1.5 kilometres long with the coveted ‘Blue Flag’ rating.
It is regarded as having one of Europe’s most important residential marinas and has around 24 kilometres of navigable canals.
Building projects took off almost six decades ago with plan for presented to the council for the marina- with homes constructed to bring a classical Venetian style.
It is also unsurprisingly branded as the ‘second Venice’ of Europe.
Work started in 1967 and properties were quickly sold especially to German customers.
A second phase started in 1965 with an extension of 600 hectares which was not finished due to environmental concerns coupled with an economic crisis.
Protests and campaigns to preserve the land resulted in the Cataln government creating the Emporda Marshes park in 1983.
The management of the marina went from private to public control since the the 1980s.
This switch consolidated the residential status of Empuriabrava, with infrastructure improvements for a more stable and less seasonal population.
Besides reasonably priced canal trips, visitors can enjoy a wide variety of restaurants, bars, and hotels or just take in the beach.
And just a few kilometres away is the town of Figueres- the birthplace of the famous Spanish painter, Salvador Dali.
