Sometimes you walk into a restaurant and they give you several table options. You can sit at this one here or that one there... In the case of today's establishment, Toc al Mar, on Aiguablava beach in Begur, where sitting is almost a matter of status. The fact is that they have several dining rooms, and most people want to be as close to the water as possible. But what shouldn't distract us is that here, of course, where you sit is important, but what you eat is also important, and at Toc al Mar, they have the freshest produce.

"We want to introduce Catalan cuisine to our guests," Jaume Vilardell, the director of the five-star Finca Victoria, tells me. He has extensive experience managing hotels around the world and is happy to be back home in Catalonia. The hotel just opened this June, and they still have a few details to finish, such as the name sign itself, and a new entrance. These are just minor details, because the hotel's rooms are already full, guests are swimming in the blue pool, and in the restaurant, chefs Jordi Vilà and Àlex López, as head chef, have brought the greatest successes of the Barcelona restaurant Alkostat, facing the sea in Begur.

Two sunbeds and a parasol for €25 for the morning or afternoon, or €50 for the whole day; plus a supplement of between €3 and €5 if you are in the front row, or €20 if you want a towel. These are the prices offered at the Aiguablava cove in Begur for those who want to enjoy one of the forty sunloungers on the sand. The City Council put out a public tender in early 2021 to hand over the management of this service until 2024, but the area they occupy on the sand has attracted complaints from bathers. "Every day it's the same: you couldn't squeeze anyone else on the sand because the sunbeds take up most of the available space. They have privatised part of the beach!" Sandra and Manel, a couple from Manresa who have a second home in Begur, complain. On the other hand, the City Council makes a "very positive" assessment of the service: "It is a cove with high demand and under severe tourist pressure, and this is a way to control access and avoid crowds", Tourism councillor Eugeni Pibernat emphasises.

In recent years, the coast of Begur (Baix Empordà) has suffered increasingly intense urban pressure, with a threatening increase of building works on the seafront. The latest case is the project Jardins de Sa Riera Living, which is about to complete the construction of 52 luxury homes next to the beach, in a new development which required the deforestation of the virgin forest of pines and oaks closest to the coast. The organisation Salvem la Costa de Begur, which is part of the environmentalist federation SOS Costa Brava, has positioned itself radically against it.