The secret to the world’s best paella is found in this ‘Land of Mirrors’

It’s not every day you get to follow a Spanish rebel into a training camp. Yet here I am in the Ebro Delta, hurling wooden clubs at imaginary targets, singing protest songs and wading through mud up to my knees.

“Think of it as survival boot camp,” says Josep “Polet” Bertomeu. “To preserve our way of life we must fight to protect our rice traditions.”

A two-hour train trip from Barcelona brings me to the village of L’Aldea in the Tarragona province on Spain’s east coast. I’m here to learn about Ebro Delta rice, an older style that has Protected Designation of Origin Certification (PDO). It is said to produce the best paella in the country. Spending the morning with an eco-warrior is a bonus.

Flamingoes are the stars of the Ebro Delta National Park.Credit: José Luis Rodríguez

Speaking through an interpreter, I learn that the sprightly 80-year-old led his first protest in 1983, an act that helped bring about the formation of the Ebro Delta National Park. In 1991 and again in 2010, he brought global attention to the delta by rowing a traditional gondola along the 930-kilometre length of the Ebro River.

Josep “Polet” Bertomeu: “To preserve our way of life we must fight to protect our rice traditions.”Credit: Kerry van der Jagt

Wedged between the Mediterranean Sea and the Ports de Beseit mountains, the Ebro Delta is a flat landscape of marshes, channels and lagoons. Its terroir produces an aromatic, short grain rice with excellent absorption properties. Rich in natural, cultural and culinary heritage, the delta, which has been settled since Roman times, is now at risk from climate change and soil salination.

“The solution isn’t to develop saline-resistant species,” says Polet. “But to cultivate small batches of our local varieties – like bomba, marsh and marisma – while using traditional methods.”

Now “retired”, Polet runs Delta Polet, an eco-tourism venture that offers hands-on conservation tours. “My tours are just another form of protest,” he says.

It’s early May and the rice fields are flush with water, a time known as “the land of mirrors” for the dazzling reflections. We test our strength with a series of throwing games, before singing the revolutionary song Bella Ciao while learning to separate dried grain from straw.

Next, we enter the swamp for hand-planting, where mud sucks at my legs like quicksand. A tour of the lagoons and a visit to the rice museum, and I’m deemed ready to continue my quest to learn more about Ebro Delta paella.

“Just don’t go calling it paella,” says Polet. “In the delta, we call it a “dish of rice”.”

Lunch at Lo Mut, a restaurant situated in a boutique hotel amid the rice fields, reveals more clues. While Spanish paella has many regional variations, most are a mix of chicken, pork ribs or rabbit, perhaps vegetables or even the odd snail.

The Ebro Delta is responsible for 20 per cent of Spain’s rice production.Credit: José Luis Rodríguez

In the delta, a “dish of rice” traditionally contains seafood only – prawns, mussels, squid, clams – but the rules of engagement are strict: only one type of seafood is permitted per pan.

I select “rice with red prawns”, which arrives in a blackened dish and is set out on its own side-table. I raise my spoon, not knowing where to start: with the saffron-infused rice that glistens like pearls? With one of the six prawns, their heads and tails artfully arranged in a perfect pinwheel? Or with the “socarrat”, that crispy, caramelised layer of scorched rice at the bottom? Simple yet complex, earthy, but with a bright essence this is hands-down the best “paella” I’ve eaten.

I finish the day at Apartment Eco Deltaic, a complex of six eco-conscious apartments with an organic food bar and restaurant, in the heart of the delta.

“Sustainability and local produce are the driving forces behind our tasting menu,” says owner and chef Daniel Montoya Gonzalez. Over the many courses, from the smoked duck and eel tapas to the cuttlefish to the spring berries, it’s easy to see why Eco Deltaic wears its Slow Food/kilometre-zero badge with pride.

From the terrace of my top floor penthouse, I toast the setting sun with a nightcap of organic Ebro Delta rice liquor. Tomorrow I’ll explore more of the delta by bike, but for now, this warrior needs a rest.

The details

Cruise
Fares for a Cabana mini-suite on a seven-night Mediterranean voyage departing Barcelona on April 26, 2025, visiting France and Italy, and finishing in Rome costs from $3739 a guest on a Princess Premier package which includes Wi-Fi (up to four devices per guest), a premier beverage package, two speciality dining meals and unlimited fitness classes. See princess.com/sun-princess

Fly/train
Qatar Airways operates multiple daily flights out of Australia, connecting through Doha to Barcelona. See qatarairways.com. A three-day flexible Eurail Spain pass starts from $279 See raileurope.com

Stay
Apartment Eco Deltaic offers a range of self-contained accommodation sleeping four to six. Photography, bird watching and bike tours can be arranged. See deltaic.eco

Tour
Delta Polet offers eco-culture safaris for €40 pp ($65). Currently only in Spanish, but interpreters can be arranged. See deltapolet.com

Kerry van der Jagt was a guest of Catalan Tourist Board, Rail Europe and Princess Cruises. See catalunya.com