A castle, Dali Land, and Ancient Ruins

Dali Land
Saturday and Sunday – Figurues and Cadaquez
We got up pretty early (for us) as we planned to drive to Spain – at least very northern Spain on the Coast. Before leaving Collouire we visited the “castle” which is actually a fortress right in the middle of the main street in town. Pictures of it appear in the post below. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera so I wasn’t able to take any pictures inside the castle which was really too bad as it was the most complete medieval structure I’ve seen on the trip. We had tried to visit the castle yesterday but there was some sort of event being held there and it was closed.
The history of the castle was very interesting. It started out as a Visagoth fortress with just the walls and interior square. Each succeeding ruling entity added onto the earlier structure. I didn’t really know much about the Visogoths before this trip (don’t know very much now either). They were a Germanic tribe which conquered the Romans in Gaul (France and Spain) in the really early, early years. Eventually they were defeated by the Spanish Hapsbergs who were in turn defeated by the Bourbons. When I have time over the next months I would like to learn more about Medieval history. I don’t think I was ever exposed to it – in San Diego the history we learned was mostly about the Spaniards coming to California from Mexico and founding the Missions. Now that isn’t even ancient history.
Anyway the castle was very complete and complicated with living spaces, fortress rooms, a dungeon, and ramparts all the way around it. The views form the ramparts were really awesome, it was really a shame not to be able to take pictures!!
There were workers taking apart the stuff that had been used for the recent “event” that was held at the Castle yesterday, and possibly days prior to that – chairs, a stage, flip charts, etc. It looked like it had been a working meeting (conference) and some signs I saw made me suspect it was probably a conference for southern France hotel folks. Looked like a great place for a conference.
After visiting the castle we hit the road and headed south after getting onto the freeway (Peage in France). We were at our destination for the afternoon in an incredibly short time – maybe 30 minutes. That destination was the Salvador Dali Museum in Figuredes. I have visited the museum before but I don’t think I appreciated it nearly as much as I did today. Unlike most great artists, Dali had great success while he was still alive (that means he made a lot of money). He also lived to be pretty old. He designed and built the museum himself so the entire thing is Dali. A lot of the works inside were designed specifically for the museum so everything goes together and some of the works are immense. The building itself is unmistakably Dali – the roof is covered with white eggs. Not sure what the eggs represent but they are a very common thing in Dali stuff.
As you enter the museum there is a big open area that makes up the center of the building. A giant sculpture that is a 1930s automobile with a man inside and a lot of vines on the bottom, above it is a ship, and a naked fat lady on the hood of the car. On the walls surrounding the vehicle sculpture there are a number of huge paintings and gold statues that sort of look like the Academy Award’s Oscar.
Dali was clearly a genius, a great artist, a showman, and probably a lot of fun. He certainly did enjoy his notoriety and although I have always liked his art, have believed he was a bit overrated. I came to this museum with John about 8 or 9 years ago. At that time I thought it was somewhat overwhelming. This time was very different. I don’t know what is different but this time I loved his art, the building, his sense of humor, and his grandiosity.
I wasn’t able to take many pictures inside the museum as I couldn’t figure out how to turn off my flash. We spent several hours in the museum. Dali was able to design the entire place and the space is huge. Many of the sculptures were designed specifically for where they are placed.
You know you are in for a weird experience when you enter the building. There is a huge space – open all the way the top of the building – probably about 4 stories. Everything in the space is Dali-esque. As you pass through the rest of the museum there are lot of his works from his early rather traditional to the most “out there” stuff from his later years. There are, of course, many paintings of Gala his beloved wife. There are lots of works that incorporate engineering – you put in a Euro and something mechanical happens. It is very hard to explain – you really have to be there. One of the most famous works is one you have to climb a ladder to tell what it is – Mae West. The only thing you can really tell is related to a woman before you climb the ladder are her lips.
There are a lot of things that are halograms. I didn’t remember these at all from my last visit. He was obviously very interested in things that seem out of this world. There is a completely separate space devoted to the jewelry he created. I had never seen it before. The pieces are so beautiful and so creative. It was actually my favorite part of the whole museum. My favorite piece was a heart made of rubies that contracts with heartbeats – very accurately.
When we left the museum – Tom said, “Usually when I leave a museum my feet and back are tired. This time my brain is.” That sums it up.
We then drove to Cadaques which is a beautiful little town on the water – out a very long and windy little road. Found our hotel – very nice – but pretty anticlimactic Dali. Walked into town and had a good dinner in a small restaurant we picked out. Food was good – Zarzuela and Paella. Our middle-aged waitress was from San Francisco (quite a long time ago). How did you end up here? She said she used to live in Barcelona. Didn’t hear the rest of her story but I bet it is pretty interesting.
Then this morning we headed out for our final Dali experience – his house in Port Lligat (a village just north of Cadaquez).
The pictures of his house really tell the story. He lived in Port Lligat most of his life (even before he had the house). The house was created out of several fisherman’s shacks. Dali designed the place and everything in it reflects him and Gala. Dali didn’t marry prior to Gala and he wasn’t young when he did. She was about 10 years older than he. She was married to someone else and had some children. She and her husband visited Dali together (don’t know what the nature of their previous relationship was) but she ended up staying with Dali. They obviously were very much in love for the entire time they were together. He credits her with much of his success and says she was his inspiration for his finest work. Visiting their home is very personal and you get a real feeling for their joy and their quirkiness. When Gala died Dali left the house and never returned so the house is very much just the way it was when they were last there together. One of the best things was viewing a pieced together film of their “home movies”. Dali performs throughout and he is really fun.
After the visit to Dali’s house we drove to the end of Cap D’ Crues – a rocky point which is the eastern most place in Spain – of course “Cataluyna is no Espana” but at least it is the eastern most part of the Iberian Peninsula.
We had no other plans for the day – and it was too soon to just go back to Cadaques so we drove south to a little town on the map – on the water – Escala. We didn’t know anything about it – it just looked well located. As we pulled into the town we saw a sign for “ruins” so we followed the signs. Amazing…..
The ruins were those of not one, but two, ancient cities. The once closest to the water is Greek and the second one is Roman. They are both HUGE and are not even 50% excavated. I have been to quite a few ruins before but the only one that is larger than this is Ephesis. The excavation at this site began in 1908 and it is not expected to be finished for at least 100 years. We were fascinated and impressed. I can’t believe we’ve never even heard of this place.
Afterwards we drove into the town proper. It is delightful with wonderful beaches – many with sand. This is place to travel to that appears somewhat undiscovered – at least to us Americans.
I hope to take some Cadaques pictures in the morning before we head back to France. This leg of the trip is nearly over. Can’t believe it has gone so fast.