After the Marató d'Empúries: The Ruins and Sant Martí

The Route: L'Escala old town → Empúries archaeological site → Sant Martí d'Empúries → L'Escala Logistics: On foot along the coast, or by taxi to the museum entrance. Flat promenade; gravel and gentle slopes inside the site. Marathon Month: April Duration: Day trip

L'Escala old town ──(about 2 km on foot, seafront)──> Empúries ruins ──(about 1 km on foot)──> Sant Martí d'Empúries ──(taxi or on foot)──> L'Escala

The Marató d'Empúries starts and finishes at the gate of one of the most important archaeological sites in Spain, and most runners see it only as a start pen. The day after the race is the time to go back in. Greek traders from Phocaea founded a settlement here in the sixth century BC, first on what is now the village of Sant Martí and then on the shore beside it, and called it Emporion, the market. The Romans landed here in 218 BC at the start of their conquest of Spain and later built a city of their own on the rise behind.

April in L'Escala is spring on the Costa Brava: mild days in the high teens or low twenties, cool evenings, and some years a hard north wind, the tramuntana, which can make the coast feel cold. Wildflowers grow between the ruins and the pines. The beaches are empty and the sea is cold.

From L'Escala's old town, the seafront promenade leads north past the Portitxol beach to the site entrance in about 2 km, all of it level. A taxi takes a few minutes.

The ruins

The Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya-Empúries covers both cities. The Greek town, Neapolis, lies on low ground by the sea, a grid of foundations, cisterns and temple platforms. The Roman city is on the slope above it, with the outlines of large houses with mosaic floors, a forum and a stretch of wall. Paths are gravel and packed earth, level in the Greek town and gently uphill to the Roman one; there are benches and shade under the pines. The site museum explains what is being walked over. Allow two hours at an easy pace and check the current price and hours before going.

On the beach below the ruins, the remains of a Greek stone jetty still run out into the sea.

Sant Martí d'Empúries

A path along the shore leads about a kilometre from the ruins to Sant Martí d'Empúries, the small walled village on the site of the first Greek settlement, once an island. Its medieval walls enclose a church and a square shaded by plane trees, lined with restaurants. The walk is flat, beside the beach and the dunes.

Lunch and the return

The square in Sant Martí is the place for a long lunch in the sun. Rice with seafood and L'Escala anchovies on bread rubbed with tomato are on most menus. Walk back along the shore to L'Escala, about 3 km, or call a taxi if the legs have had enough.