Getaway to Maresme: Family activities

Your adventure begins by finding the road connecting Dosrius with Canyamars. There, inside the boundaries of the Montnegre-Corredor Natural Park, a side road will lead you to Rukimon, a park that's home to all the donkey breeds found on the Iberian Peninsula. Once inside, you'll see how easy it is to make friends with this docile animal capable of carrying heavy loads with ease. The company organises donkey rides for the whole family, birthday parties, routes especially designed for children, and country rambles. A great place to spend a pleasant afternoon and to start the getaway off on the right foot (or should we say hoof).

The only port in Maresme county is in Arenys de Mar, and it's a pleasure to stroll among the boats and the nets bundled up on the docks to watch the vessels coming and going followed by flocks of seagulls, or to watch the fish auction.

Beyond the hustle and bustle, the harbour also offers nautical activities, such as sailboat trips, kayaking, scuba-diving courses for beginners and rentals of captained boats. A fun and original option for a family outing is a fishing trip, which takes about four hours and even includes the chance to swim in the open sea.

Come lunchtime, the port has many excellent restaurants to choose from; as you might imagine, they specialise in seafood dishes with the fresh catches of the day.

Staying in Arenys de Mar, you move back onto terra firma. The town forms part of the Network of 'Indiano' Municipalities, and it's easy to see why as you walk down from the top of Arenys, following the course of the famous water channel in order to discover the legacy of the Indianos from one end of the town to the other. Arenys was the point of departure for many Indianos, the adventurers who voyaged across the Atlantic in the 18th and 19th centuries to seek their fortune and, if the wind blew in their favour, returned wealthy. Many of them were hugely successful and, once home again, built grand mansions in their native land, some of which are still inhabited while others form part of the municipal heritage.

Perhaps Arenys’ most famous Indiano was Josep Xifré, the very same who gave his name to the Porxos d’en Xifré in Barcelona (Passeig d'Isabel II, 8-16). In his hometown of Arenys Xifré funded a hospital for the poor, a large building in which his mausoleum was also built. Although this is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular constructions on this route, there are others worth discovering, including the Asil Torrent, the palatial El Paraíso, and Can Còrdova. Don’t forget to take a look at the Sinera Cemetery either, a lovely site immortalised in the verses of Salvador Espriu and closely linked to this afternoon’s walk, as some of its majestic vaults are the final resting places for the Indianos of Arenys.

During the same period when some of Arenys citizens were embarking for America, other locals stayed in the port town to earn a living in the textile industry, one of the region’s great economic engines for decades. Proof of this can be found in the former gas factory in Premià de Mar, home to the Printing Museum, Spain’s only museum specialising in textile printing. This morning's itinerary will give you a fascinating insight into the history of the technique, the chemistry of the trade and the art of manual fabric printing. It also explains how the printing process became industrialised, completing a very educational visit which begins with the clothes of the ladies returning to Catalonia in the 18th century. They were actually the trigger for the Industrial Revolution here, and the exhibition displays dresses, moulds and original tools from each stage of the sector’s evolution.

When you leave the museum, we recommend taking a stroll around the town so you can look at the Sant Cristòfol Church, the Neoclassical buildings such as the Masia Ribas or the Noucentist constructions like Can Roure. What's more, in 2015 Premià de Mar opened its very own Roman Museum to exhibit the unearthed part of a singular octagonal building situated in a Roman villa. Originally this would have served as a reception pavilion for someone high up on the social scale, but later on it became a centre for wine production.

Now that you've seen places related to the Romans and wine making in Premià de Mar, you can take the opportunity to visit nearby Teià, with its wonderful Vallmora, Enotourism and Archaeological Centre: the perfect segue between the two towns. The Romans produced wine all around this region, a trade which continues to thrive in some places and with great success, for instance in the DO Alella vineyards. In the Archaeological Park you'll find cellars dating back 2,000 years, complete with cisterns, ovens where they fired the amphorae, and a pair of reconstructed presses, which are exact reproductions placed on the precise location where they were found. Enjoy a journey into the past before returning to the present and the conclusion of this trip.