Marc Biarnés: "Used to going barefoot all day, when I returned home I found it difficult to wear sneakers"

Tossa de Mar is the favourite place in Catalonia of actor Marc Biarnés Sierra, known on Instagram as @nosoloviernes2. He used to holiday there from the age of 5 to 20, at Camping Pola: “I won’t reveal any secrets, because the tourists arrived a long time ago, if I say that Cala Pola is wonderful, one of the best beaches in the world”. For Biarnés, that campsite, which was right in front of the beach, has lost its charm of “Catalan customs” since they turned it into a super resort. “It’s not what it used to be, they’ve made it for tourists. Before, many people from Barcelona used to come, we were the usuals and some foreigners,” he recalls.

The actor, author of Manifest of a society in decomposition (Penguin Random House, 2026), explains that Cala Pola was a beach where you could go at any time of the day, with no problem planting your towel. Those who wanted more atmosphere and parties went to Platja d’Aro, and those who chose Tossa were looking for something quieter and more family-friendly. That’s where Marc made his first group of friends. He eagerly awaited May to start seeing them on weekends, and to be together all summer until September, when school started. For Sant Joan, his mother, sister, and he would settle in the caravan they had, and his father would come on weekends until he went on holiday.

He noticed a big change compared to Barcelona; the streets were smaller, there were traditional shops, and the emblematic castle that could be seen from the beach: “It was like being in another world, we lived in our own bubble. Taking advantage of the fact that almost everyone in the group had a boat, we would go to Cala Futadera, where we would tie the boats together with sailor’s knots. The parents made toasts and we would swim and jump into the water”. Until well into adolescence, they spent all day playing, building huts, going to the mountains and the beach. He admits that, accustomed to going barefoot all day, when he returned home he found it difficult to wear trainers. He misses that feeling of freedom shared with his friends, doing what they wanted, disconnected from the outside world, going to the coves, snorkelling and having lunch at four in the afternoon. When they were older, towards the evening, they would shower and get dressed up, “we’d dance a bit and stay chatting on the beach until 5 or 6 in the morning”. He tried to keep in touch with his friends from the group, but life kept them apart, and with studies abroad, jobs, and partners, it became complicated. He admits that, after stopping going, he spent almost 10 years finding it difficult to return: “I missed it and it hurt me, I was aware that I was already an adult and those summers wouldn't come back”.