Instagram on the Costa Brava

Cadaques. Copyright Gretta Schifano

My teen’s mobile phone is like a part of her being. It rarely leaves her side and she understands it intuitively. So when we were invited to take part in an Instagram day on Spain’s Costa Brava she was very pleased.

I didn’t actually know what Instagram was at the time (it’s a way of sharing photos online) so was a bit nervous about the day, especially as the rest of the lovely BritMums and Travel Perspective travel bloggers in my group were seasoned Instagramers. But my teen set up an account for me in a nanosecond on my phone and assured me she’d help, especially as Instagram didn’t work on her phone so we’d both be using mine.

The venue was Cadaqués, a charming, out-of-the-way town on Spain’s North-East coast beloved by artists such as Picasso and Dalí, who had a summer house here. When we turned up at the old, whitewashed casino overlooking the bay to sign in I couldn’t believe how many people were there. The place was buzzing with around 200 Catalan and Spanish Instagramers including Joan Figueras, the local mayor and George Clooney lookalike. After a simple breakfast and a few words from Joan everyone set off around the town snapping pictures and posting them to Instagram under the tag #instacadaques. There was to be a prize for the winning photo overall, and a special prize for the best photo posted by our group (12 year-old Harry was the deserving winner of that one).

Cadaques street. Copyright Gretta Schifano

We joined English-speaking guide Mercé Donat who did a great job of showing us around. There was also a professional Instagramer with us, Julio, and he gave us some tips on how to make our Instagram pictures better by using apps, all of which my teen quickly downloaded and started using straight away. She was very busy indeed and I barely saw my phone, but the other Instagramers were very friendly to us and it was easy to chat to them as we went around Cadaqués.

Because we were looking for unusual images we stopped often and moved around the town much more slowly than we would have done otherwise, but I noticed that none of the children seemed bored. In fact, they all seemed to enjoy it as much as the adults did, and I’d say this is definitely a good activity for families. My teen says it was the best part of our trip, even better than indoor skydiving or our catamaran cruise. I’d definitely go on another Instagram day with her, but hope that she’d let me have a turn with my phone next time.

Family travel lowdown: We travelled to the Costa Brava as guests of the Costa Brava Tourist Board. There’s an ongoing programme of Instagram days in different places in Catalonia. These are free of charge and open to all – just sign up online beforehand and let the organisers know if you’d like an English-speaking guide to help you.