Coll De Rates

One Sunday I fancied a ride out somewhere different. I had heard of Col De Rates, a restaurant on a peak of a mountain, which serves brilliant food.

Ed and I went to Pedreguer first for a bimble around the Sunday market, then headed out to find the place. I had no idea which road to take out of the town, so I asked a couple of people on a scooter. To my amusement, they didn't speak much Spanish as they were German. I then asked in (terrible) German, but they didn't know where it was. They recommended a nice place, which wasn't the idea! I then asked a policeman and he knew where I was asking about.

It was a lovely ride, along the edges of the mountains and through very small villages. At one point, I spotted a building at the top of a mountain and guessed it was where we were going. I was right. As we finally got onto the car park, we were greeted by Roger, a friend from Albir. I had asked him about the place, so he decided to join us. Good job we didn't decide to go to the other place the Germans had told us about.

We went inside (it was a chilly day) and it was like going into a German mountain restaurant. The staff were either German of Spanish and the decor was decidedly Bavarian. We got a menu and decided on a 'snack'. I ordered some sausages and Ed ordered some lamb chops. Roger ordered apple strudel! When mine arrived, I had a bowl of water, with 3 sausages swimming in it along with a couple of giant pretzels and some mustard. It was divine. Ed's snack, turned out to be a plateful of chops, with the usual trimmings. It was a good job he didn't order a full sized meal.

It was a lovely place, and very busy in spite of the weather. I can imagine it being totally packed in the summer. Apparently, they do 'full moon' barbeques which are very popular (but don't forget to take a jacket, as it gets cold on mountain tops at midnight!). It was a long way from here, so I don't think we'll go very often, but the size of Roger's apple strudel certainly makes it worth thinking about.

The views from the place were spectacular. As it was a bit overcast, it wasn't possible to see Ibiza, but on a clear day, it is visible. Roger said that he had been able to watch our progress from the last village, all the way along the mountain road, which was several miles. He assumed it was us anyway, as there were 2 bikes!

I think we ought to go again in September, when the summer heat haze had cleared and we will be able to admire the view from outside (as well as admire the strudel inside).