El Perelló is a hill village on the old coast road between Tarragona and Tortosa, and it is famous for honey. Bees have been kept on these scrubby limestone slopes for centuries, feeding on rosemary, thyme and wild flowers, and every winter the village holds a honey fair that draws visitors from across Catalonia. In the hills around, sheltered under an overhang, is the rock art of Cabra Feixet, part of the Levantine paintings of eastern Spain inscribed together by UNESCO. The figures are small and faded, and the site is best visited with a guide or after asking at the village; please do not touch the rock.
The landscape is dry Mediterranean country: terraces of olive and carob trees, almond groves, pines and garrigue, with ravines dropping towards the sea. From the higher ground you can see the Ebro Delta spreading out to the south, a vast, flat triangle of rice paddies, lagoons and beaches pushing into the Mediterranean, one of the most important wetlands in the western Mediterranean. Flamingos, herons and countless ducks gather there, especially in winter, and the rice fields change colour with the seasons, flooded and silver in spring, green in summer, golden at harvest.
Tortosa, on the Ebro a short ride inland, is a city with a long and layered history: Roman, Moorish, Jewish and Christian. Its Gothic cathedral, the Suda castle on the hill above, now a parador, and its Renaissance colleges tell of centuries as a frontier and trading city on the river.
The riding varies. The old coast road is busy with trucks, but the minor roads through the hills between El Perelló, Rasquera and the Ebro valley are quiet and twisty, with fine views and good surfaces. Heading down into the delta changes the mood completely: flat, straight roads between rice fields, with big skies and birds everywhere. Watch for slow agricultural vehicles, and for strong winds, both the mestral from the north-west and the sea breezes, which can be gusty. Summer is hot and humid on the coast; spring and autumn are lovely.
Tortosa, about thirteen kilometres away, has fuel and everything else, and El Perelló has basic services. Buy a jar of local honey, then head to the delta for a rice dish or a plate of mussels and oysters farmed in its bays.