Historical places to visit

St Marti d' Empurius

VISIT THE HISTORIC RUINS OF EMPURIES
The historic ruins of empuries are less than a mile from L'escala. It is here that the Greeks arrived hoping to expand their trading activities in about 500 BC. They built a first settlement, the Palaiapolis, on an island which is now as SANT MARTI D'EMPURIES,later the built a new town, the Neapolis, on themainland and called it Emporium, (meaning market)and shared the local land with the Indiketas.

Roman ruins
In 218 BC during the second Punic war the Romans arrived at Empuries under Scipio and later,under Cato they built a military base.Until the decline of Empuries in the 3rdcentury AD,due to the importance of other towns like Girona ,Barcelona and
Tarragona, the three civilisations ,Indiketas, Greeks and Romans all lived in the same area.
MUSEUM
Today you can visit the site the remains of these settlements as well as the museum that shows some of the artefacts from that time. Excavations on the site have still not been completed.

These ruins are a must for a visit
In this small village there are small hotels , restaurants and bars where you can spend a very relaxed time.
www.mac.es

Click below to learn about Roman battles in Spain.

http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/punic2-map.htm

Sant Pere de Rodes Monastery
The monastery Sant Pere de Rodes is considered art-historically as prime example for the Catalan Roman era, if not as the actual cradle. Its origins date from the 1 century after Christ. According to the legend, Christians coming from Rome were stranded in the bay and predicted this as a sign from god to found and erect a monastery in this place. The Christian doctrine at Sant Pere de Rodes ranks among the most significant within monasteries. The first official mention of the monastery originates from the year 878.

The monastery geographically still dominates today the bay of Llanasa and Port de la Selva. During a long period its power reached from Barcelona far into the Roussillon, now part of France. In the course of the twentieth century the monastery was restored under great expenses.
By car it can be reached via Port de la Selva or Vilajuiga. There also some footpaths that lead to the monastery by Vall de Santa Creu.

Perelada Castle
Perelada is located in the centre of the Emporda plain, just next to Dali's town, Figueres. It is with no doubt one of the noblest towns in the area.

In 1285 the first Castle of the Rocaberta was destroyed by fire. During the 14th century, the family built a second castle, which was located outside the wall and surrounded by splendorous gardens. This is the Castle of Perelada, next to the Carmelite monastery.
Inside, is one of the few gothic cloisters in Catalonia and the also gothic,beautiful Carmen church.

The castle was bought by Miguel Mateu Pla in 1923. He loved art and culture and so decided to lodge his collections in the castle: sculptures (mainly mediaeval and Renaissance), altar- pieces, tapestries, furniture,paintings ( by Vicente La pez a.o), coins, cristal, ceramics, etc., all of incalculable value. He also enlarged the cloister's library, which at present holds around 70.000 volumes, including miniate codex, gothic manuscripts, over 200 incunabulars, chronicles and other bibliographical treasures.

One of Miguel Mateu's strongest wishes was to bring back the wine-growing tradition of the area. Wine had already been grown in the Emporda five centuries B.C., as the first Phocis had settled down by the coast and then penetrated the country in search of more fertile lands. In Perelada, wine is a heritage of the 15th century, as it is shown in the various documents kept in the castle's library. It was the Carmelite monks who built the cloister's cellars, where they used to produce wine for the County of Perelada from the grapes of the area's important vineyards. These cellars are still in use today.