Pals, history & rice

Pals welcomes you from a distance, as soon as you see, on the horizon, the silhouette of its wall around the town and can make out the church and the majestic Torre de les Hores tower, one of the few remains that is preserved of the old castle and an emblem of the town.

Walk through the narrow cobbled streets of the mediaeval town and this will take you back to the middle ages. There are stone arches, Moorish arches, Romanesque and Gothic doorways and windows ... 

Make a stop for a drink or meal on a terrace or restaurant. In Pals restaurants you will be able to try out a wide variety of dishes prepared using local products from Empordà. From the sea, from the mountains, from the vegetable gardens and from the rice fields. Pals rice, along with prawns from Palamós, sweet sausage, brunyols or sweet fritters, onions from Figueres, cooking apples from Vilabertran and local curds all have the label of guaranteed products from the Empordà region.

Pals & Rice

When you say Pals you also say Rice. Pals has been associated with rice for a long time. It became an important crop of the town in the 15th century, when there was already a mill that can be dated to 1452. This mill is owned today by one of the rice-merchant families of Pals.

The tradition of Sowing the Rice is celebrated every year in the town during the month of June. The senior farmers of the town offer the audience a demonstration of how rice used to be planted manually standing in water, prior to the arrival of mechanisation. The rice that is planted manually in June is harvested in October.

This event, which is recommended for all the family, is accompanied by a typical country breakfast and a series of activities that reflect the authentic nature of rural life centred on rice farming. 

This year the traditional sowing of the rice is on Saturday 26 June 2021. For more information: https://www.visitpals.com/en/entertainment-guide/entertainment-guide/traditional-sowing-of-rice/

In many shops in Pals you can buy the rice from Pals to take home. A tasty souvenir!

Pals is a magical place, a home to experiences and traditional legends that will surprise you.