Txell Costa: "I need this rhythm and these landscapes, the sunsets and the skies that only exist here"

“Deep down I am Empordà, silent and calm,” assures business consultant Txell Costa. L’Empordanet is her vital landscape and her favorite place in Catalonia: “I remember the first time I heard of its existence, Antoni Bassas was interviewing Pasqual Maragall, who had a house around here.” Although it is a label, it is not an official county, it does not exist administratively, but it includes Rupià, Pals, Peratallada, Palau-sator, Monells, Ullastret, Púbol... It is the border between Gironès and Empordà, “the more inland Baix Empordà, small villages, made of stone, and a more relaxed way of life”. He has increasingly sought a quieter life. “What I need is this rhythm and these landscapes, the sunsets and the skies that are only found here,” he comments. Surely that's why it wasn't difficult for him at all to move there, and he believes it will take him quite a while to move to another area, if he ever leaves at all. Perhaps the most complicated change was moving from Barcelona to Girona, even though he felt very comfortable with a city so human-sized, where you can walk everywhere. He says this is the charm of the Empordanet, that Girona is still nearby, and it's easier for him to separate work from the rest. He loves the landscapes, the lifestyle, the connection with nature, that there are few cars and children can ride their bikes peacefully, or that when the village bar closes they stay for dinner together because they are friends. They live a village life and try to make the children put down roots there too. “Living here I have discovered that l’Empordanet is very much alive. The civic centres don't stop offering activities, and there are also many initiatives driven by the people who live there,” she explains. She loves that they haven't lost their essence nor are they blurred by the trends that globalize everything: “Here don't ask for a matcha or a flat white. You don't find avocados on all menus, there's no posing, it's wonderful, an oasis”. They have little treasures, like the quality of the food, which steal the hearts of everyone who visits. Perhaps in winter everything is a little quieter, since shops and restaurants have shorter opening hours or work fewer days. The seasons are also noticeable in the landscape, the colors change. They have gone from sunflowers to the time of the yellow flower, the course of the river is altered according to the irrigation of the fields... And in winter she has to leave earlier to remove the ice from the car window. Costa continues to go to the city to feed herself with ideas, and she can speed up without problems, but she states that her rhythm is that of the Empordanet. "It balances me, what I like most is the peace it gives me," she says, satisfied.