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Few places on the Costa Brava wear their identity as plainly as l'Escala, a small fishing town on the Gulf of Roses in the far north-east of Catalonia. The town sits where the Pyrenean foothills finally give way to the Mediterranean, and the landscape around it, flat salt marshes, pine-fringed coves, and the wide arc of the bay, gives it a quieter, more contemplative character than the larger resorts further south along the coast.

L'Escala is anchovy country, and that is not a casual observation. The town has been salting and curing anchovies in the traditional manner for centuries, a craft so embedded in local life that it shapes the economy, the cuisine, and the sense of place in ways that visitors notice almost immediately. The scent of brine and olive oil drifts from the old quarter near the port, and the small bars and restaurants around the Passeig del Port serve the fish in ways that make clear this is not a garnish but a centrepiece. Buying a jar of l'Escala anchovies to carry home is, for many visitors, as natural as buying wine in Burgundy.