L'Escala () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the ''comarca'' of the

Alt Empordà Alt Empordà (; ; "Upper Empordà") is a Comarques of Catalonia, comarca (county) located in the Comarques Gironines, Girona region, in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of two comarques into which Empordà was divided by the comarca division of Catalo ...

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Spain. It is situated on the

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (; ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava. Usually it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeas ...

, located between the southern end of the Gulf of Roses and Cala (bay) Montgó. It is an important

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

port and tourist centre, and has a festival dedicated to its famous

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

. The GE-513 road runs inland from the town. The ''Alfolí de la Sal'', also known as the ''Pòsit Vell'', is a seventeenth-century

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

formerly used to store the

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

necessary to preserve fish landed at the port: it is now a protected historic-artistic monument. The ruins of

Empúries Empúries ( ) was an ancient Greek city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Spain. The city Ἐμπόριον (, Emporion, meaning "trading place", ''cf.'' emporion) was founded in 575 BC by Greeks from Phocaea. After the invasion o ...

are located on the territory of the municipality, with

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

remains dating from 580 BC. L'Escala is the village of Víctor Català (pseudonym of Caterina Albert, 1869-1966) a famous

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

. The GR 92 long distance footpath, which roughly follows the length of the Mediterranean coast of Spain, passes through L'Escala on its stage between

Sant Martí d'Empúries Sant Martí d'Empúries is an entity of the town of L'Escala. It is located next to the ruins of Empúries or Empòrion. Ancient Greeks established the settlement in the 6th century BC. It was the county seat until 1079 Empúries moved to Cas ...

and Torroella de Montgrí.

Demography

References

* Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. (Spanish). (Catalan).

External links

Official site

Government data pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Escala, La Municipalities in Alt Empordà Populated places in Alt Empordà Tourism in Spain Seaside resorts in Spain