Marta’s two-bedroom apartment was all that I expected. Clean, attractively furnished, with an adequately equipped kitchen. It’s suitable for a single, a couple, or even a couple with one or two small children. Its best features were its location, about as central to Olot as it could be, and its top (4th) floor terrace with a south-facing view over the tree-lined Fluvia river toward the distant mountains which surround the town. I was there in late June and early July, so the sun did not reach into the roofed terrace. Later in the summer it might be too hot and bright on warm sunny afternoons. Another welcome feature is the ample free parking in the lot just across the narrow street.
Olot, with a population of about 35,000 is the administrative centre of the district of
Garrotxa (pronounced Garrotcha). It’s an attractive tranquil provincial town with numerous shady walks along the river that winds through it. Sirens - whether police, fire or ambulance - are quite rare. The town is also considerably more multicultural than I expected; and seems to be handling the relatively recent influx of immigrants well. It also hosts a number of cultural events, including while I was there a free weekly circus with different troups in the old bullring.
The Garrotxa region, famous for its numerous extinct volcanoes and even more numerous natural fountains, offers excellent opportunities for walking, hiking and biking, with a network of sign-posted trails and country roads, including one that uses a defunct train line that ran from Olot to Girona and parallels the river Fluvia part of the way.
One minor caveat: although everyone can speak Spanish, the first language (including for print info and signage) is Catalan; and it’s the language the inhabitants speak among themselves.