L'Escala

Els Aiguamolls de l'Empordà Natural Park

Els Aiguamolls de l39;Empordà Natural Park This is the second largest wetland area in Catalonia. It is made up of lakes and flood meadows at the confluence of the rivers Muga and Fluvià. It constitutes an exceptional habitat for fauna, particularly water birds. Its creation in 1983 was the consequence of a long and intense defence campaign started in 1976, to stop a housing project for 60,000 dwellings on the lagoon system located between the estuaries of the Muga and Fluvià rivers.

In the past, the Empordà marshes occupied almost the entire plain of Roses bay and the lower reaches of the Ter river. The Montgrí massif was cut off by the water, and the Greeks founded Empùries on an island between the estuaries of the Fluvià and Ter rivers. That large marshland area gradually disappeared due to the development of agriculture (initially rice fields) and the establishment of enclosed meadows for cattle. During the mid-twentieth century the destruction of the marshes was speeded up by the building of tourist facilities.

The campaign helped to alert public opinion both in Catalonia and abroad to the value of the area and. was a great success, culminating in the Catalan Parliament unanimously approving a bill declaring the EmpordÃ marshes a site of national interest and establishing a nature reserve on Oct 13th 1983.

Wetlands Nature reserve Until now the Natural Park has only included the marshes of Upper Empordà. However, those of Lower Empordà now enjoy legal protection within the new Parc Natural del Montgrí, les Medes i el baix Ter. These measures have turned the Empordà marshes, located in the heart of the Costa Brava, into an extraordinarily interesting and attractive place for both scientists and nature lovers.

The main attraction of the Parc dels Aiguamolls de l'Empordà lies in the large number and variety of birds which live there permanently or temporarily. It is estimated that up to three hundred different species of bird can be found in the Park, one hundred of which nest in the area, most of them annually.

Birds are the commonest and most easily seen animal species in the marshes but it should be remembered that a wide variety of other interesting species of vertebrates at invertebrates are also present. So far 329 different species have been observed, 93 of which are resident or breed there.

In fact, Catalonia is one of the most important stopping places for birds on their migratory journeys when they leave northern Europe at the end of the summer in search of warmer climes to spend the winter. The Parc dels Aiguamolls therefore plays a vital role as a refuge and temporary resting place for migratory species. For the one hundred million birds that fly over the Mediterranean coast in the autumn, the reserve is forms and important stopover on their journey to rest and feed.

Aiguamolls - El Cortalet Information Centre - Parks of Catalonia

Empúries Archeological Site, L´Escala

Throughout the 7th century BC, the indigenous inhabitants of this area of the Empordà coast lived in different places on the headlands and hills within a large marshland. One of these settlements from the Iron Age was on a small isthmus, where the village of Sant Martí d'Empúries is found today. This settlement dates back to the end of the Bronze Age (9th century BC and had trade contacts with the Etruscans, the Phoenicians and the Greek.

Parc Natural del Montgrí, les Medes i el baix Ter

Map showing Natural park limits This is a natural park formed to protect the wonderful coastline where we love to dive (from the Medes Islands to north of Cala Montgó, L’Escala), a large inland area from the Montgrí Massif westwards and northwards, and the wetlands area of the river Ter.

This is marvelous for us divers as it means that, once the infrastructure is in place, all our favourite dive sites along the coast will be protected with buoys to avoid anchor damage. This is especially important for our local marine phanerogams like Posidonia, coralligenous communities and maërl beds.

Cap de Creus Natural Park

The Cap de Creus peninsula is the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean side of the axial Pyrenees. It is a natural area of the first order, with its very particular geological make-up of structures and outcrops that make the area unique in the world and fundamental to our understanding of the geological evolution of the oldest lands in Catalonia.

The Cap de Creus Natural Park, with a total area of 13,843 hectares, is Spain's first maritime-terrestrial park. It is located in the Alt Empordà region and includes the municipalities of Cadaqués, El Port de la Selva, La Selva de Mar, Llançà, Vilajuïga, Pau, Palausaverdera and Roses. It was created in 1998 to protect the Cap de Creus peninsula and its marine surroundings.

The Park is divided into two parts: land, with a surface area of 10,780 hectares, and the marine area, of 3,064 hectares. The land area encompasses three Natural Sites of National Interest (NSNI): to the North, the NSNI of Cap Gros-Cap de Creus; to the south, the NSNI of Punta Falconera-Cap Norfeu; and to the West, the NSNI of the Rodes mountain range. The first two, moreover, include two Strict Nature Reserves (SNR): the Cap de Creus SNR, with the islands of S'Encalladora and Massa d'Or, and the Cap Norfeu INR. As for the marine zone, the Natural Park encompasses the area around the Cap de Creus peninsula, from the end of the Bol Nou point to the cove of Tamariua (El Port de la Selva), to Falconera point (Roses), excluding the bay of Cadaqués. The width of the protected zone varies between 0.2 and 1.3 miles. Within this protected marine zone there are three Partial Nature Reserves (PNR): Els Farallons (between Brescó and the Tres Frares point), Cap de Creus (between the island of Culleró and the Jugadora cove) and Cap Norfeu. Finally, there is also an Integral marine reserve, S'Encalladora (to the north of the island).

The waters surrounding the Cap de Creus peninsula are very clean, with extremely low levels of pollution. The morphology of the coast, with its sea-cliffs, rocks, islets, reefs, coves and bays, and the nature of its rocky bottom (which can reach great depths) and sediments offers diverse habitats for an extremely rich submarine life.

From a biological point of view, Cap de Creus stands out for its rich and varied plant life, a direct result of its bio-geographical situation. This plant life is a coexistence of Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean elements, and is privileged by the presence of numerous rare species, some of which are endemic. This multiplicity of biotopes is also reflected in the area's fauna, and it should be remembered that this natural area still offers a great deal of potential for the recovery of endangered species.

Empúries Archeological Site

Empúries Archeological site at L'Escala Throughout the 7th century BC, the indigenous inhabitants of this area of the Empordà coast lived in different places on the headlands and hills within a large marshland. One of these settlements from the Iron Age was on a small isthmus, where the village of Sant Martí d'Empúries is found today. This settlement dates back to the end of the Bronze Age (9th century BC and had trade contacts with the Etruscans, the Phoenicians and the Greek.

In the first half of the 6th century BC Greek traders from Phocaea founded a first settlement (the Palaià Pólis) and years later created the new sector of the city (the Néa Pólis), the remains of which can be seen at the archaeological site.

The colony was called Emporion, which in Greek means market. The city developed thanks to the commercial activity of the Greeks with the indigenous peoples of the Peninsula. In fact, their influence and culture were the features that conditioned the development of the indigenous people, giving rise to the birth of the Iberian culture. The Iberian peoples of the Empordà belonged to the indiketes tribe.

San Martí beach In 218 BC on the occasion of the Second Punic War, a Roman army under Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio landed at the port of Empúries with the aim of blocking land access to the Carthaginian troops. This started the romanisation of the Iberian Peninsula.

In 195 BC Marcus Porcius Cato established a military camp at Empúries that was the start of the new Roman city. During the reign of Emperor Augustus, the Greek and Roman cities became one under the name of Municipium Emporiae in the last quarter of the 1st century BC.

As Gerunda (Girona), Barcino (Barcelona), Tarraco (Tarragona) and other Roman cities on the Peninsula became increasingly more important, so Emporiae gradually lost its importance. In the second half of the 3rd century AD, the whole of the Roman city and the area of the Neapolis were abandoned, and the people settled in Sant Martí d'Empúries.

After the invasion of the Moors and its recovery by the Franks (8th century) Empúries was the capital of the Carolingian county of Empúries and was later the capital of the mediaeval county of Empúries until the 11th century, when the capital was moved to Castelló. From that time Empúries was inhabited by a small group of fishermen who in the 16th century founded the town of L'Escala.

Excavation of Empúries started in 1908 and has continued almost without interruption to the present, yet only 25% of the site has been unearthed.

Empúries occupies a beautiful location on the Costa Brava and is a must see for visitors to Catalunya who have an interest in roman history. You’ll need a couple of hours to see the excavations and to enjoy the audio visual show which tells the full history of the site.