We stayed over a week at Sant Nicolau and came back via Sant Celoni which is a town further up the train line from Granollers, about halfway between Barcelona and Girona. As my partner works there I decided to spend a few hours exploring the town while waiting for him to finish.

The town always seems a bit austere when I arrive there on the train but this time I found the central street and there are some lovely buildings and interesting shops.

The church of Sant Marti was constucted in the years between 1634 and 1703.  A whole life time of works!  The front facade is beautiful

Here is the town hall

Christmas specialities such as crisp-flavoured turrons. At the back of the photo there are children playing hopscotch. Catalan towns provide lots of play areas – it is officially painted on the pavement!

Roasted chestnuts cooked on a brazier – sorry this photo is not good but it was hard holding the camera with a dog pulling on the lead. Bonnie is not happy walking through shopping streets.

Sant Celoni is right on the edge of the Natural Park of Montseny and makes a good starting point for excursions up into the mountains.  It’s on the direct train line to Barcelona and in the other direction to Girona and Figueres so is well placed for city, mountains and countryside. 

Until August 2013 there was a famous 3 star Michelin restaurant called Can Fabes. After the death of its founder Santi Santamaria in 2011 and in the current difficult financial climate, the restaurant closed its doors after 32 years of business. I wish I had known about it when I first arrived here and had taken the opportunity to eat some special Catalan cuisine.  I know I have often complained in this blog about the difficulty of finding good food so it is a shame I missed this one.  I just looked up its web site and it looks as if possibly it has reopened.  Impossible to tell with the internet as sometimes the ghosts of old establishments continue to haunt the airwaves. If anyone knows then please write in and tell me – does Can Fabes still exist, or not?   

And if you have eaten there, was it possible to eat vegetarian food?