Very close to the Gulf of Roses, amidst the Greco-Roman ruins of Empúries and L’Escala, there’s a place that from its very origins has been imbued with the Mediterranean climate, landscape and culture. The L’Escala hostel, between sea and pine groves, transports you to the splendour of the classical past of L'Escala Empúries.

History

Indigenous peoples inhabited this site since the ninth century BC, and by the seventh century BC they had trade relations with the Etruscans, Phoenicians and Greeks. In 580 BC, Greek merchants from Phocaea set up a Greek colony here, which they called ‘market’ (Emporeîon). 

In 218 BC, this Greek world was shattered when the Romans came during the Punic Wars, led by Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, and the Iberian Peninsula began to be romanised. Thus, by the early first century BC, Empúries had become a Roman city. These historical episodes have left their mark in many ways, and one of them is the L’Escala hostel. Once you're inside this manor house, instead of finding an enclosed space an ancient Roman courtyard opens up before you. From this courtyard, if you take a look around and tune in your senses, you can feel how the stones of the walls tell the house's story. 

However, this story continues: after the eleventh century -after having experienced the Arab invasion and the Frankish recovery centuries earlier- Empúries became a small settlement of fishermen who founded the town of L’Escala in the sixteenth century. Fishing was the foundation of this small hamlet's economy; in fact, L’Escala's beach served as its harbour. This stroll through history also marked the life of the building, which was most likely used for fishing and livestock. 
Centuries later, the current L’Escala hostel experienced the darkest point in its history. With the Franco dictatorship, the house came to be owned by the Falange. 

L’Escala's main economic activity had already shifted: instead of fishing, the main source of income was tourism, and lots of hotels and summer houses started cropping up. This phenomenon also marked the history of this building, and years later, when the Franco regime ended in 1984, it came to be owned by the Government of Catalonia and became the L’Escala Youth Hostel.