Teatro de Dali and Cap de Creus

Aside from the Alhambra and the Prado, we were most excited to visit the Teatro de Dali. This is one of the most visited sites in Spain. This theater-museum was built by Dali late in his life, in his home town of Figueres (About 50 minutes from Girona by car). It feels more like a circus than a museum. Because they took an old theater and transformed it, it doesn't have the same flow as a museum and given the number of visitors it can be a challenge to navigate it. But it is literally a feast for the eyes. There some pieces that you experience while being in the room such as the Mae West Room where the whole room is a single piece of art. There are piece of furniture and attempts to create holographic images. There are moving sculptures that you can activate by dropping a coin into a slot. (Such as making it rain inside a car that is the center of a large courtyard piece). The best way to explain it is clearly with pictures.

Exterior of the Teatro de Dali

Interior courtyard with view of the glass sphere and boat

Many of the sculptures from the courtyard

The car that rains for a Euro

Dali Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon

Dali's tomb

Interior looking up at the glass sphere

Very cool Painting of Dali's wife that if you back up or squint is also a portrait of Abraham Lincoln

Far away view of the same painting

Famous Mae West room

No caption required

Hologram of the Princess from Las Meninas hidden in another Dali work! I knew this painting was stalking us. (And haunting Dali)

Amazing full ceiling piece. Had to practically lay on the floor of the museum to get this shot. 

After the museum we took the long windy road out to Cadaquez which is a small beach town where Dali often vacationed. It is perched at the edge of the Mediterranean which we were able to see first hand as the road curves dangerously close to the lapping waves. As you drive into town there is a large sign in several languages encouraging tourists to park at a no doubt expensive car park and walk around. Of course we ignored those signs and continued along the windy roads in town and found they lead quite unequivocally to the sea. The roads are barely wide enough for one car and they curve along the shore line that if you miss estimate your turn, you would have a very wet day and a tough explanation to the rental agency. But it was a great way to see the city and at the end of the windy road we ended up at a free car park right by the beach. We got out and walked around. Most people were sunning on the shores or eating lunch. We stopped for lunch at a small bistro on the water's edge and had a nice little meal of seafood. Sean had a thai shrimp salad and I had scallops with jamon and artichokes. We had to pay a premium as we were in a resort town but it wasn't unreasonable.

Cadaquez road on the edge

Sean at the restaurant Mediterranean adjacent

Another view of the Cadaquez harbor

After lunch we got back in the car and went along an even windier road towards the Cap de Creus. This cliffside area is part of a National park. The road to get there at times was dicey, parts were not well maintained, many sharp turns, lots of up and down hills. The landscape is rocky and barren with a haunting aspect captured in many of Dali's works. The views were incredible and geology is really interested. Layers and layers of overturned rock jutting up from the ground. This area is in a particularly active tectonic region at the convergence of two plates and you can see a lot of compaction and folding.

Cap de Creus

Sailboat in a Cove

Amazing Rock outcrop

Better views of this unusual landscape

In the distance

More Rocks

Awesome rock layers

Despite the winding road, winds, near head on collisions and occasional rough patches in the road, the trip out to the Cap was totally worth it. Not only does it show some of the most unspoiled scenic beauty of a rocky coast, but it also is a great place to see geology in action.