Cadaques

We have arrived near the French border,still in Spain, at the bay of Roses. The town of Roses is a modern family holiday resort; for a town with character we need to visit Cadaques, 10 miles away. This is Cadaques- photo below- originally a fishing village that became a favourite artists’ haunt in the 19^th century with tourism following on in our generation.

The narrow streets contain mainly white buildings finished in blue paintwork and draw you around the next corner. It’s probably only a trinket shop but could be a picturesque alley or courtyard.

There are some quite ornate large houses as well as the cottages, like the “Casa Blaua” dating from 1904.

There are small landing stages all around the waterfront that accommodate leisure craft and tripper boats as well as the few fishing boats still operating. Again, it’s all very scenic.

Out of all the excessive number of photos one takes with a digital cameras, the mural on the back wall of the cheap café where we had lunch beats the lot for capturing the atmosphere of the town. 

Threading around the walkways along the sea edge, we spotted an odd object in the water: something like a Royal Doulton plate. It turns out to be a jelly fish; afterwards we notice hundreds in the bay. Clearly they aren’t dangerous as families are bathing quite unconcerned.

Across the hill from Cadaques is a small bay of the tiny fishing hamlet of Port Lligat. We walk there, passing a fisherman’s church, impressive in its simplicity.

The stroll down the hill from the church to Port Lligat reveals a small, peaceful bay fringed by trees. But maybe less peaceful today than in the past.

There are just a few cottages, I suspect now occupied by weekenders rather than fishermen. However, the main reason for our visit is the house below that was the home of the painter Salvador Dali and his wife Gala. He bought a simple cottage here in 1930 and enlarged it over the years into the fine building we see today. He lived there with Gala until the late 70’s.

They had a distinctly odd relationship: for example, he bought her a castle in 1968 so that she would have a place of her own. Salvador was allowed to visit her only with her written permission. Other tales are somewhat too risqué to repeat!

The beautiful coast and clear light no doubt makes it an artist’s paradise. Even the flowers seemed brighter than usual.

So tomorrow it’s goodbye to Spain as we move on to the Loire Valley.