Top 7 Caves around Alt Emporda

The Norfeu Tower is a historic watchtower built in the 16th century to defend against pirate attacks. It stands atop a rocky cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and offers stunning views of the Roses coastline.

The natural metamorphic limestone of the Norfeu massif allows for the presence of several cavities. Following the marked trails, you will find the nearby Les Ermites cave.

Super nice view of the sea and the national park

The cave of the hermitages, also known as the hermits, is located on the northern slope of Cap Norfeu, next to the path that leads to the tip. The cavity is triangular in plan with a wide entrance that becomes narrower as it sinks. The mouth, 7 meters, is closed with a wall made of slate slabs arranged flat with an opening: the door. The walls of the cave are retouched and at one point even lowered as is the case of the north side where there is a bench and shelves, all excavated in the natural rock. In front of the cave there is a limited artificial terrace that has a fence as its limit. In this space there are the remains of a square-shaped hut also made of slate slabs. This is well built since the corners are carefully made with retouched slates of a larger size than in the rest of the building. Apart from its name, there is no written record of the use of this cave, located in Cap Norfeu, as a dwelling for hermits. Although it is a subject, like many others, little studied, we find some references to the phenomenon of hermitism in the municipality of Roses. The book Roses o a la recerca de la zona grisa summarizes them: [...] on May 17, 1380, the bishop of Girona, Bertran de Mont-rodon i de Sorribes, asked the clergy of Santa Maria de Roses, Cadaqués, Palau-saverdera and Santa Creu de Rodes to hear the confessions of the hermits who lived in these mountains - something that confirms, on the one hand, their presence and, on the other, the more or less widespread nature of the phenomenon - and not to say that they were not his parishioners - a precision indicative of the fact that the hermits, beyond living geographically isolated in a solitary wilderness, were also socially and religiously abandoned. A few years later, a woman - let no one unconsciously tend to identify hermitism with an exclusively masculine option -, named Francesca, worked as a hermit in a place called Panin, located in the municipality of Cadaqués. She had built a cell there and arranged a garden, which the Rosicrucian Guillem Riba, owner of the territory, donated to her on April 25, 1411, a means of living that was increased in 1418, when a vesana of land located in La Font was added. The hermit occupation of the place was still maintained in 1427. On November 26, those possessions were assigned to a new ascetic, Guillem Savella, a native of Guimerà, a remote town in the Conca de Barberà, in Tarragona, a provenance that suggests the possible attraction that the Rodes mountain range could have as a hermitic center. At a date as late as the mid-18th century - a time when the religious authorities would once again promote this way of life - it is still possible to discover another case of survival of hermitism in Roses. On 17 July 1759, the bishop granted Felip Castelló Vila, master of servants in Roses, permission to go and work as a hermit in the small church of Santa Anna de Pontós. After all, it does not seem that the cave of the Hermitage of Cap Norfeu is an isolated reference in the religious panorama of Roses and the entire mountainous area that serves as its hinterland (since the Middle Ages, for example, there are testimonies of hermits in Sant Baldiri de Taballera and on the mountain of Sant Pere de Rodes; and, during the 17th and 18th centuries, in Sant Sebastià de Cadaqués, Llançà, Sant Onofre de Palau-saverdera or Santa Elena de Selva de Mar). Now it seems a little more plausible to be able to affirm the hermitic character of the aforementioned cave. Who knows if one day we will know the name of the hermit who inhabited it Source: https://rosespedia.cat/index.php/Cova_de_les_Ermites

The Torre de Norfeu is a building in the municipality of Roses (Alt Empordà) protected as a cultural asset of local interest. Located within the small peninsula that forms the Cap de Norfeu, on top of the highest hill of all those that make up the orography of the area, with a great command over the sea. These are the remains of a watchtower located in these contours. Circular in plan, with a slightly sloping profile and a large diameter, the tower is built with stone of various sizes and some ashlars, without being worked, arranged in irregular rows and bound with lime mortar. It currently has an approximate height of about six meters and maintains the hemispherical vault that covered the ground floor. The interior walls still maintain remains of the hydraulic lime layer that coated them and the bottom was built with a fairly well-preserved tile pavement, since the floor was intended to be a rainwater collection cistern. In the center of the vault, the register through which the water was extracted and the first floor was reached is still preserved.[1] Currently, access to the interior of the tower is through a slightly raised chasm, which gives access to the space of the cistern. Large fragments of built walls and scattered rubble, from the demolition of the upper part, are scattered around the construction. Source: https://ca.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_de_Norfeu

El Pi de Portbou beach is the first beach on the Costa Brava accessible by road that we find after crossing the border with France. It is a place that is very collected and allows you to enjoy the view of the port of Portbou from a distance. We can also reach it on foot through the circular path that comes from the center of Portbou, passing first by the beach of Les Tres Platgetes, walking approximately 1 kilometer. It is a beach formed by stones, in the middle of a beautiful natural environment dominated by cliffs. Right next to it we find a cave and a waterfall. The pines give the beach its name, but very few of them are currently preserved. It is a very quiet beach, and is usually frequented by couples and nudists. In addition, it is suitable for anchoring and practicing water sports.

The water from the sea reaches the very mouth where a wide gallery begins full of large blocks and the occasional tree trunk dragged by the sea. Topography is not available and therefore we do not know the exact measurements.

Before reaching the Collada del Fau, if we come from the Castle of Bac de Grillera, we find a quite narrow gap with a path that goes inside and crosses it in its entirety. Inside the crack, almost reaching the end, and in its deepest part, the Pou del Fau begins by means of a ramp with a slight slope and covered by plant debris. At -7 meters a first well of -17 vertical meters begins, very narrow and with some small landing of clastic origin. At the eastern end of the lower floor, depth continues to be gained by another well with a -9 meter drop. From this point, exploration becomes impossible due to the narrowness of the duct. To visit its interior it is necessary to have the appropriate knowledge and equipment.