Village
Sant Pere Pescador is a municipality of the Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, situated in the middle of the Gulf of Roses, at the mouth of the river Fluvià, with a seven-kilometre beach of fine sand beside the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà Natural Park. Known since the year 974 as Villa Militiano, belonging to the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, in the Middle Ages it revolved around its castle, where Queen Juana Enríquez resided during the Catalan Civil War. It retains stretches of wall, the church of San Pedro, from the 18th century over an earlier Romanesque one, and the castle, from the 14th century. Its economy combines fruit-growing, fishing and tourism, and its coastline is today a benchmark for windsurfing and kitesurfing. It changed its Spanish name for the current one in 1984. It has 2,290 inhabitants.
Nature
The Fluvià rises in the mountains of the Collsacabra and runs some 84 kilometres through the comarques of the Garrotxa and the Alt Empordà before flowing into the Mediterranean next to Sant Pere Pescador, giving structure to the agricultural and natural plain of the comarca. It passes through municipalities such as Olot, Besalú, Castellfollit de la Roca and Sant Joan les Fonts, and receives tributaries such as the Llierca, the Ser and the Turonell. With a rain-fed regime, with some snowmelt influence at its headwaters, it once powered textile and paper mills, and it marked a line of defence during the Civil War.
Nature
The mouth of the Fluvià, known as the Goles de Sant Pere, covers 71.59 hectares within the municipality of Sant Pere Pescador, inside the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà Natural Park, of which it forms part as a protected area also under the Natura 2000 network. Amid dunes, back-dune and beach communities, glasswort marshes and rush beds, habitats such as Mediterranean halophilous grasslands, halophilous scrub and embryonic shifting dunes occur. The area stands out above all for its birdlife, as a breeding area for the Kentish plover. To protect it, some access points for road traffic have been closed and a raised viewpoint has been installed to regulate the flow of visitors.
Nature
Beach of fine sand and dunes, 6.3 km long and about 100 metres wide on average, with a steep slope into the water; it is the longest in the Gulf of Roses. It stretches from the mouth of the Fluvià river, to the north, to that of the Vell river, next to Sant Martí d'Empúries, to the south, within the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà Nature Park, in a semi-natural agricultural setting where there are only three campsites. It is divided into eight sections, including la Gola, Can Martinet and el Riuet, and has an area reserved for water sports where a windsurfing world championship event is held; its excellent-quality waters fly the Blue Flag.
Activity
Easy cycling route that follows the lower course of the Fluvià river to its mouth at Sant Pere Pescador, between market gardens and wetlands. The Fluvià rises in the Garrotxa comarca and runs 97 kilometres before flowing into the sea here, within the Aiguamolls Nature Park; its banks, of great ecological value, are an ideal spot for observing birds and riverside vegetation.
Activity
A Wednesday market that moves to the riverside park in summer, with clothing and locally sourced products.
Activity
The beaches of Sant Pere Pescador, with a constant thermal wind in summer, are among the most renowned windsurfing and kitesurfing spots in Europe. Their central position in the Gulf of Roses and more than six kilometres of sand make it easy to practise these sports, and the beach frequently hosts both national and international competitions that reinforce its reputation among enthusiasts across Europe.
Activity
Gentle descent by double kayak along the final stretch of the Fluvià river, between reed beds and aquatic wildlife, almost to its mouth, at the Goles de Sant Pere, a coastal wetland of 71.59 hectares within the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà Nature Park and the Natura 2000 network. The area is of particular ornithological interest and hosts the Kentish plover as a nesting bird, amid dunes, back-dune plant communities and marshes dominated by sea rush.
Food and drink
Apple of the Golden, Red Delicious, Gala and Granny Smith varieties grown in the plains of the Empordà and the Gironès, entered in the European register of protected geographical indications since 2003; the Alt Empordà is one of its main areas.