The itinerary brings together three historic gardens and a residential development established on the Costa Brava during the early decades of the 20th century, as well as a series of significant sections of the Costa Brava coastal path that follows the rugged coastline between Blanes and Llafranc. As a complement, the new Marina de Palamós—a recent project by Estudio Martí Franch, located at the foot of a section of the path—and, by the authors themselves, the landscape restoration of the Palamós coastal path have been added.
Starting at Port Bo beach in Calella de Palafrugell, known for its arches, we head towards the port of Malaespina. After crossing Canadell beach, we continue along the coastal path from Calella to Llafranc, passing Tres Pins and the watchtower dating from 1597, before reaching Llafranc.
In the south of Calella we find the Cap Roig botanical garden, created by the exiled Tsarist Nicolai Woevodski and his wife Dorothy Webster between 1931 and 1975. Dorothy and a team of local gardeners were responsible for landscaping the seven hectares located on a cliff and planting Mediterranean, tropical and subtropical flora.
According to a report on the landscape restoration project for the Palamós coastal path, ‘the aim of the project is to connect the existing sections into a single continuous path linking the town, its nearby beaches and the Natural Park, while preserving and improving the coastal landscape for decades to come’. The Marina de Palamós yacht harbour enriches the coastal heritage through the judicious use of pergolas, paths and flowerbeds with plants adapted to the marine environment. This comfortable and practical site is bordered to the north by several coves served by the coastal path.
In the S’Agaró residential development, designed by Rafael Masó for the industrialist Josep Ensesa in 1917, the architect organised the land with public spaces —squares, stairways, facilities, etc.— integrated with plots for villas such as Senya Blanca, for Mr Ensesa, and another for himself, as well as the Hostal de la Gavina. After Masó’s death, the architect Francesc Folguera took charge of interventions such as the church and the coastal path, where both travertine and wind-deformed pine trees play an important role, and from where you can see a seven-arched loggia originally designed by Masó for the Senya Blanca garden.
The Santa Clotilde Gardens in Lloret de Mar, begun in 1919 and a clear example of a Noucentista garden, were designed by architect Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí—a great admirer of Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier—in collaboration with the owner, Dr Raül Roviralta, a man of the world. In the words of Josep Pla, ‘the grand staircase, flanked by towering cypress trees, facing the tip of Santa Cristina, makes an indelible impression’.
Created in 1921 by the industrialist and naturalist Carles Faust i Schmidt at the northern end of Blanes, the Mar i Murtra botanical garden was admired by Pla, who dedicated a few words of admiration to it in his 1941 book ‘La Costa Brava’. It shares its location with the other gardens on the route. On the slopes of Sant Francesc mountain and down to the cliffs, there are plants from various origins, in line with the aim of acclimatising vegetation —especially tropical and temperate— to the Blanes coast. This evocative setting is accompanied by the architectural project of Josep Goday i Casals.
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