Platja d'Aro, Catalonia, Spain

Originally wild, now tamed by tourism: that’s Costa Brava. Where the Iberian Peninsula’s granite mountains meet the sea, they resist erosion, and Mother Nature becomes the sculptor. Platja d’Aro’s sandy beach is one of the most popular in Catalonia, but there are always a few sequestered coves where the crowds thin out. [2005]