Costa Brava and Dalí
Jun 18th, 2014 by willmarks
While we had visited the Barcelona beaches (Barceloneta) and the nearby coastal town of Sitges (40 kilometers south of BCN), a trip north to the Costa Brava had evaded us. But as our European adventure was coming to a close, we joined a group of several expat families for a weekend in the town of Pals, 130 kilometers above Barcelona.
We all stayed at the La Costa Resort, not fancy, frequented largely by French tourists, and nicely situated across the street from a long and beautiful beach that seemed empty, despite it being a holiday weekend.
It was nice finally to walk the sand of the Costa Brava and to spend time with friends, including the Swifts, Sullivans, Niedzielsky, Worples, and Zieglers. The kids kept busy with in the water, in the jumpy house (never too old), on the lawn, on the beach and the on the padel court.
Max with Owen Worple, Jacob Swift, and Joe Ziegler
Ella with Marisa Niedzielska and Lily Swift
Maggie with Sarah Wolfe, Jacob Niedzielski, and Peter Wolfe
Our first night’s dinner was at the hotel, with service as slow as we have seen it in Spain; normally, the snail’s pace of a restaurant’s staff can be attributed to Spanish custom—meals are lengthy, while at La Costa there was a competence issue. Fortunately, the kids had a resort in which to run around during the wait. On night two, we dined on the beach, about a 2 kilometer walk from La Costa, at Solimar. The company was great and we were beautifully positioned on the beach; and, in general, our meals were good, but the paella incorporated overcooked seafood.
On Monday morning, we drove into the medieval town of Pals, a few kilometers from the beach. The 15-meter-tall “Romanesque” tower was built between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Much of the architecture in Pals, including this square tower, dates back to the 12th century.
The Mediterranean coast is in the distance, including the Islas Medes, also visible in the above beach photos from the prior evening.
Fifty kilometers north of Pals is Figueres, Dalí’s (1904-1989) birthplace, and home of the Dalí Theatre-Museum, which the artist created and opened in 1974 as “the World’s largest surrealist object.” The building is on the site of what was the Municipal Theatre, where Dalí gave his first painting exhibition. After being destroyed by a fire at the end of the Spanish Civil War, the Municipal Theatre sat in ruins until Dalí decided to construct his museum here in the 1960’s.
It was difficult to see Lincoln at first, but at the appropriate angle…
The Mae West Room…
One year is not enough in Spain. I feel as if we have barely scratched the surface. And while we learned our way around Barcelona on foot, on a bike, and on the metro, we did not really figure out the city by car; a year without a four-wheeled vehicle has not been difficult in this town and it has truly added to our experience. Still, on our drive back from Figueres, we went through the Tunnels de Vallvidrera (one way to enter BCN) three times, into the city, out and then in again, in order to find our way home…
