On into Spain

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Crossing the border, apart from a whoop whoop from ourselves doesn't change the scenery or weather, the border building is a derelict building, which could be reinstated should the need required, we wonder as we cross pre Brexit.

Our destination is what is known as The Dali Triangle, Port Lligat, his home for some 40+ years, Figueres, his Museum, Art space and final Resting place and finally Pubol the castle he bought for his wife Gala, decorated for her and is her final Resting place.

We arrive late in the evening and chose Roses as our stopping place before taking the twisting road over to the other side of the Pennisula known as the Cap de creus Pennisula. Roses as we are finding out is like so many of the Spanish seaside resorts closed “nobody is at home” which sort of surprises us as we imagine this is the time us Brits would wish to get away from the British winter. To sit here in a ghost town would be really quite depressing, luckily for us we are not staying so the following morning we head to Port Lligat.

Our mood immediately lifts, we see walking opportunities, quiet bays and a stillness that is intoxicating. Dali made this home from his birth place of Figueres when he became friendly with one of the fishing village cottage owners. When the one next door came up for sale Dali bought it and continued to as and when they became available. Like his work, he said the growth of his house grew with his growth as an artist, the home now open to visit, only opens up the mind and thinking of a surrealist painter but is a gloriously comfortable home and art studio.

Dali wished to be the first man in Spain to see the Sun and so placed a mirror at an such an angle that he was able to do just that from the comfort of his bed. I took the stroll along to the end of the bay to watch the sunrise one morning and saw it reflecting onto the window of the house where I knew behind was that mirror. Dali himself said “I don't do drugs, I am drugs” well for an exceptional 3 nights at Port Lligat you were my drug too, definitely earmarked for a return trip.

We take a good walk through the many olive groves on the pennisula passing many small bays and eventually after a steady climb to the Lighthouse we reach the most easterly point of Spain. A coke and olives of course to celebrate before our return. We both agree that had the fact that after four days we were without water and full at the other end we probably would have stayed longer as the winds dropped and the Sun came out!

Our visit to Figueres Museum to wander amongst the varying artworks of Dali, aside from those of course which have been sold, is a mind opening experience as probably you would expect. The raining taxi, Marilyn Monroe’s face viewed from a mirror, beautiful portraits of Gala, all took a mind of a genius which you may either love or hate, but I know which camp I am in, you’ll have to ask Graeme where he stands!?!

The sun still shining we head to a campsite, with heated indoor pool, close to a sandy beach, open town, and make camp for what turns out to be our longest put down of 6 nights.

Fully recharged we make a plan to head to an area which has been recommend to us Parc Natural de la Zona Volcanica de la Garroxta and to a town at its centre Santa Pau. On arrival we do a hike into the centre of a volcano, which has strangely a small chapel in it. There are around 30 extinct such volcanos and had the weather been better, well we are in Nov!?! we would probably have managed some more walks but those we do are very rewarding. Our intention to leave is thwarted when we notice a sign for a Christmas Nativity and decide we cannot leave without having a look. We are informed by the restaurant owner that it will be busy, and yes it is up until now we have been the only Motorhome in the village car park. By the afternoon we are asked to move to allow the cars in and what turns out to be another 50+ vans. At 6.30 we join the crowds huddling around an open fire waiting for the spectacular to start, we are not to be disappointed! As we orderly enter we are met with the scenes from the nativity all taken by actors, well not so much acting as they are standing still, and will continue to do for another couple of hours. A living Nativity and village scenes through the ages is a cool way to spend an hour and met with soup and a liqueur rounds of a great few days at Santa Pau.

We decide to take the sights and sounds of Girona in before heading to Montserrat Abbey, at 1200m from the valley floor this unusual mountain range is easy to spot and the car park at the top with it’s view back down our home for two nights. We arrive in time to hear The boys choir perform at 1pm as they do everyday for a short recital, and then we join the queue to see or prey at The black Madonna, the patron saint of Catalonia. Many belief that she started life in Jerusalem so a patronage by many Catholics is made here. The abbey is also home to some 70 practising monks.

The winds that we thought would die down, according to the ‘guru’ BBC weather only seem to get worse so after another search for a Spanish weather site we find that the winds will only get stronger peaking at 1am. We try to sleep and then at midnight with one huge gust rocking us from side to side, and being on the edge of a cliff we simultaneously shout ‘we need to move' and that we do, and almost instantaneously after fall asleep. The next day all is clear and makes a good day to head for the highest point of Sant Jeroni. The walk is amongst the strange rock shapes, where there is helpfully laid out trail that wander past climbers on many of the boulders enjoying the views as we do. Our happiest moments are out in nature and walking, Montserrat will be one of those places we will remember for a while, and not just because of the rocking in the van!?!

We have just two weeks before we are in a flat in Valencia for Christmas, with Fiona and Doug joining us for some of the time. The weather is now not beach weather but still dry so we head inland to visit some of the Catalonian villages and they dont disappoint. We meander by day, stop for coffee make local purchases, almond meringue being a lovely one! Enjoy the scenic drive down the N420 and imagine if we were here in summer how glorious it would all look under a glorious blue sky.

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