Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Girona, Cadaques
We walked along the coast past Port Lligat where the Dali house is. We wondered about the pink haze on the hillside in the distance.
Getting closer:
We found it was ice plant, clinging to the coast:
Then we came across a large man-made something in the water:
Charlie walked down these steps:
to get here:
Dali lived in Cadaques. There is a statue of him looking very jaunty on the bay:
And his famous artist friends would visit him:
The artists always seem to live in the cool places. Dali lived in Cadaques, actually in the port just over the ridge, a 20 minute walk from Cadaques. He lived there with his wife Gala and lots of other artists who came to Cadaques to hang out with him. He bought some fishermen’s huts and expanded from there. This is the view of it from a boat as you come into the harbor:
Rick Steves said it was the best artist’s house tour he had been on so we took it. Here is the view from the ridge as you walk over from Cadaques:
This entry room had a stuffed bear and a basket of his trade-mark canes:
A cozy fire nook with shrinking chairs:
Views of the bay from most of the house:
The swans who lived in the pool:
were later stuffed:
His studio:
General weirdness:
Colorful decoration and couch we assume his models used:
Art showing his wife Gala with their swan:
Their bedroom:
And amazingly, 3 images of Wynette in Gala’s bathroom mirrors:
Summer dining room:
Patios:
Structures:
Cristo de la Basura (Christ of the Trash), that Dali made from an old boat, old roof tiles, cement blocks, and other discarded items, best seen from a viewing platform.
Eggs:
The pool:
By the pool:
Post by Wynette: We came across this small shrine on the edge of Cadaques, perched on one of the many stone walls.
We took an hour-long ride along the coast in what was advertised as Dali’s fishing boat. Gala was the name of Dali’s wife, as well as his boat.
Our boat man man spoke Calalan, Spanish and French but not much English:
We took the trip with a very nice French family:
The younger son was adorable:
We passed a natural arch under Cap Creuss, which is at the easternmost point of mainland Spain.
We passed several boats:
And to prove we were really there:
We walked over the ridge to Dali’s house. At the top was a small chapel and cemetery with a view.
A number of graves had tile decorations:
Like Italy and Slovenia (and other places we assume) they often put pictures on the graves:
We had coffee one morning at a cafe on the beach and saw this woman communing with the sea:
Post by Charlie: A few years ago, when we were at a beach house with my sister in California, we learned about looking for sea glass (broken pieces of glass bottles that have been smoothed by the surf). It can be hard to find in California because lots of people like to collect it. Apparently searching for sea glass is not common in Cadaques. Wynette was collecting some and a young boy, aged about 10, wanted to see what she was picking up and got all excited when she showed it to him. Next year there won’t be any left. Added by Wynette: The two of us collected the sea glass in the photo below in about 40 minutes. The next day we went back and found about the same amount in about the same amount of time.
Around Cadaques all the walls are made of flat stone like this. They are all along the walkways as well as on steep mountain sides, used to create tiers for orchards of olive trees and other farming.
I assume these are traditional walls. There is a lot of rock like this all around. It must be easier to make walls out of rock like this that breaks into flat pieces. We saw one under construction. These days it looks like the stones are used just for show, like brick facing on houses. The real wall is concrete blocks with rebar.
If you look through pictures we took around Cadaques in other posts, you’ll spot many more of these walls.
We walked out to the Hotel Racamar on the other side of the bay, up on the hill, the other three star hotel in town, very nice.
You always know a place is good when lots of locals eat there:
Okay, we were there at the ridiculously early lunch hour of 1:30 so no one else was there yet. The restaurant was amazingly good, much better than we expected, and not really that expensive. We ate there twice. We had some lovely dishes, including razor clams that were served on a rock, one of the stones they use for building the walls. Before:
After:
Dessert was a traditional dish with bread soaked in wine, with the foam that seems to come on things:
