Live an authentic village experience
Gata is, year after year, a town where thousands of visitors arrive in search of its famous palm and wicker baskets. In its peculiar shops, where all its crafts hang from doors and windows, you will see that Gata has a lot to offer.
Arriving here you will find an authentic village atmosphere. Its streets are full of people shopping, strolling or chatting. The bars full at lunchtime or in the afternoon at coffee time and the squares full of boys and girls playing in the afternoon.
Gata is Commerce. Its century-old stores attest to this. In the vast majority of them, it is the second or third generations who run them today, keeping secret recipes and ways of making products as they have always seen it.
One of these centuries-old recipes is that of the Sobrassada de la Marina, a typical sausage from the area whose original recipe arrived in La Marina Alta around 1609 from Mallorca and which was subsequently adapted here.
It is made mainly with lean meat and pork belly from the Duroc breed, salt and spices such as paprika and black pepper. It will then be stuffed into natural pig casings and will have to be cured for a minimum of 5 months. A delight for the palate!
The town has more than 5 butcher shops with a long history and in them you will find much more apart from this gastronomic delight.
As you see, gastronomy is a strong point in Gata. In each of its restaurants and bars you will eat like at home. Something that we recommend you try is cocas.
This is another star recipe and today it is still essential in many meals or celebrations. The meeting begins as soon as the dough is made and ends with everyone around the oven waiting for them to come out to taste them.
The basic recipe is with flour, water, oil, yeast and salt, but you will never find an equal recipe. Here the hands and experience of each person who is kneading this delight will enter. In the end, the dough will be between soft and crunchy and will be completed with different toppings such as onion and black pudding, field herbs, prawns and chard, peas with onion and egg or simply an anchovy.
The original recipe is cooked in a wood oven but today you can make them at home with conventional ovens and they are just as good. So you have to try it yes or yes!
Bakeries also make them every day so you can take them with you for lunch or dinner.
Another strong point of Gata is craftsmanship. In the 1960s, the town had more than 10 factories and from here items such as bags, hats, guitars or furniture were shipped to the whole world.
Today most are still operating and exporting locally and internationally and many of the hats you will see in stores will come from Gata. The most interesting thing is that the same machines are still used as in the 1960s, where the hats were shaped by heating the molds with irons over a fire and then decorating them with strips or cords sewn with sewing machines. Quite an experience if you have the opportunity to see the process!
The bags and baskets are another of the attractions that you will find here. The shops on the road are still in the same place as always and they are still quite a sight for those who arrive in Gata since they are on the main road that crosses the town.
This is a must stop when you visit Gata!
Apart from visiting its shops and restaurants, you cannot leave without taking a walk through the town and visiting its streets, its church or its most differentiating element: The Gorgos River. This is empty almost all year round and seeing its skeleton is quite a sight. You can walk down and enter it, seeing the town from a different and original perspective.
We hope to see you in our streets and that you fall in love with our town as much as we neighbors do.