Portbou is located exactly on the border with France, a unique location that makes it the first or last town (depending on how you look at it) in our country. A fact that, from the end of the 19th century, made the town one of the main accesses to Spain and an important communication hub. Precisely, its train station, built in 1929, continues to be one of the most important buildings in the town. However, immersed in the rugged landscape of the Costa Brava, Portbou is a town with a seafaring tradition with numerous natural attractions and a wide range of leisure activities on its coastline.
If, as also happens to the experts from National Geographic, Cadaqués has you in love, you cannot miss a nearby town located in the northeast of the Girona region of Alt Empordà. This is Portbou, a place that lovers of mystery probably already know from the true crime of “the girl from Portbou” and the most cultured for being the place where the Berlin writer Walter Benjamin committed suicide fleeing Nazi persecution, In 1940.
In fact, Germany dedicates a precious monument to him in this town located at the gates of the Portbou cemetery, in whose common grave the remains of this thinker and poet of the Frankfurt School ended up. Passages has precisely the structure of a passage leading down a cliff directly into the sea. A long staircase that represents the dark passage that people like him had to go through, trying to escape from barbarism towards life, represented here by the sea.
But Portbou is much more than its history. It is a traditional fishing port that sits in a sunny valley of the Costa Brava. The old town is surrounded by a coastline of cliffs and steep slopes covered with vegetation and is presided over by the neo-Gothic church of Santa María.
Located near the train station, it dates back to the end of the 19th century, when the train station and the railway line to France were built. In this context and in order to give religious service to workers related to the railway, The construction of this temple was promoted through private financing.
On its coast, on the other hand, there are quiet beaches and secluded coves such as Les Rates, Cala del Pi, Les Fresses, Playa de Claper or Playa Gran, one of the main beaches in the town. In addition, it is characterized by having transparent waters and rocky bottoms that allow the practice of diving or swimming.
For its part, the port has excellent facilities for a wide range of water sports, such as sailing or canoeing for the more adventurous.
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