All Sights

The monument dedicated to Ava Gardner in Tossa de Mar stands at one of the best scenic lookouts in town. It was revealed to the public in August of 1998.

The beautiful sculpture of no less beautiful woman and an icon of the American cinema appeared in Tossa de Mar as a thank you to Ava Gardner for the fame she had brought to Tossa de Mar while filming Pandora and the Flying Dutchman here in 1950, turning it into one of the most famous and beloved resorts in the Costa Brava.

Phone: 619 188 218

Phone: 972 751 489

Coordinates: 41.871317, 3.087516
Phone: 630 59 19 59, 972 66 14 86, 972 66 14 62
E-mail: info@closdagon.com
Contact person: Miguel Coronado
Winery tour duration: 1-3 hours
Tour cost: 15€-40€ (wine tasting included)
Min group size: 5
Max group size: 25
Languages spoken: Spanish, English

Address: Carrer de Castelló, 10 | 17780 Garriguella, Girona
Phone: 972 53 00 92
E-mail: info@bodegastrobat.com
Opening hours: weekdays 08:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm, open 9:30 am to 1:30 pm on Saturdays in summer only (April-August)

The idea to exhibit his artworks in the wild woods instead of an art gallery has occurred to the Catalan sculptor Xicu Cabanyes back in the 1970s, at the very start of his artistic career. Visiting the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in the Netherlands, as well as Park of the Monsters in Bomarzo, Italy, has cemented the idea in the maestro’s head—since then, he has created over a hundred monuments and sculptures, now on display in the forest Bosc Can Ginebreda close to Porqueres, Girona.

Xicu Cabanyes is a renowned master of erotic sculpture, so a good half of the artworks in the outdoor “gallery” can be labelled NSFW. Medusa’s head covered in penises, tables making love, a series of sculptures titled “Secret Beauty of Vulva”, monuments titled “Lips”, “Pubis”, “Victim of Sex”, “Kiss”, “Bonded Cock”, “A Woman Disoriented”, not to mention an open dedication to Pope Francis with detailed discussions of his anatomy are all on display.

Despite the openly provocative nature of the museum’s exhibits, clearly designed to raise eyebrows, its visitors aren’t likely to be too scandalized by the artworks. The forest is too remote to receive accidental visitors looking for a fun day out with kids, while the locals know better than to go for hikes in the area unless art appreciation is specifically on their hiking agenda.

Among all the erotic works hidden among the trees, there are countless tame ones as well. Artworks like “The Maginot Line”, “A Roman Bunker”, “A Dedication to Cava”, “Chernobyl”, and “Torre de Collserola” have nothing to do with eroticism, yet account for another half of the museum collection. (The erotic half is just way more fun to write about!) Besides Xicu Cabanyes, artists like Lluís Vilà, Torres Monsó, and Moisès Villèlia have contributed their works to the collection of Bosc Can Ginebreda.

In 2009, the forest was acquired by the government and now houses not only the open-air museum but a convenient open space used for local exhibits, markets and festivals organized by the municipality. The first Sunday of September is dedicated to celebrating the forest itself. The annual fair Festa del Bosc saw its 32nd edition in 2019.

Bosc Can Ginebreda is open to visitors daily from 9 am to 6 pm in winter and to 9 pm in summer. A small admission fee is charged.
Phone: 972 582 538

A pilot and aircraft designer Nicolai Woevodsky, the World War I hero and the husband of Fräulein Maria Petrovo-Solovovo, moved to England after the 1917 Russian Revolution and served in the British Air Force for several years. In 1927, he purchased a large plot of land in a picturesque corner of the Catalan seaside, where he built a castle and beautiful gardens with his new love, an English lady Dorothy Webster.

A few years of hard work on the part of the Russian officer and a British aristocrat turned 17 hectares of wild nature into a botanical garden with a collection of over a thousand species of tropical and subtropical plants. In 1969, the Woevodsky couple gifted the gardens to the Spanish government, with one condition — that everything in them be preserved exactly as it was.

The bank La Caixa, presently in charge of the botanical gardens of Cap Roig, has been overachieving in this regard: the gardens now host sculptures by popular masters and artists, adding to the artistic atmosphere of Cap Roig, which would definitely have been appreciated by Nicolai and his wife.

In 2001, the botanical gardens gave a home to the international music festival Festival de Cap Roig, now hosted here annually in July-August. The festival holds concerts of many genres, boasting big names like Sting, Julio Iglesias, Charles Aznavour, Sinead O’Connor, Leonard Coen and many more.

Visitor information
The town closest to the botanical gardens is Calella de Palafrugell. Driving from Barcelona, follow AP-7 and C-31 and after passing Mont-ras, take exit 331 and follow Avinguda de Catalunya towards Jardins de Cap Roig.

Opening hours:
April to September: 10 am to 8 pm daily.
October to March: 10 am to 6 pm daily, in January and February weekends and holidays only.
Festival opening hours: open until 4 pm.
Closed: December 24, 25, 25, 31 and January 1, 5, 6.

The Bramant cove, or Cala Bramant, found in the northern part of the Costa Brava coast between Colera and Llançà, is one of the most picturesque in the area. The locals often call it by a different name—Cala dels Enamorats, or the Cove of Lovers—because of the many rocks surrounding the cove for maximum privacy. The cove is connected to the sea by a narrow channel which makes it look like a giant bathtub.

The closest residential area is a half-an-hour walk away along narrow trails and a country road. The beach in the cove is a wild one; no services or city beach amenities are to be expected here. The beach is sandy but has a rocky bottom underwater, so entering the water is a cautious affair. Some daredevils use the tall cliffs around the cove to spectacularly dive down instead.

Directions: Follow the highway N-260 northbound, turn right at the coordinates (42.388598, 3.158109) towards Carrer Sant Miquel de Colera and follow the road signs until the point with the coordinates (42.385298, 3.159507). From here, continue northwest on foot—the walk to the cove will only take about 5 minutes.

The BTT Mountain Biking Information Centre in Baix Empordà is located on the Greenway between Girona and Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Ruta del carrilet II), in a former railway station.

Here, you can access the full spectrum of services related to cycling and mountain biking tourism: bicycle rentals and repairs, a wealth of free information like route brochures, regional maps and local trail maps, a cafe, and changing rooms with showers.