Spanish Diary. Salvador Dali Country.

The Salvador Dali museum, Figueres.

Salvador Dali was born in Figures. Today the centre of this town is dominated by his wonderful museum. In we pop to take a look and we are not disappointed. It’s wild and wacky and particularly good for children. There’s nothing boring or predictable about Dali’s work, that’s for sure.

Dali was very serious about food and even featured it a lot in his work. He was also very serious about eating, hence the special restaurants he would seek out and frequent.

In the town of Figures it was at the Hotel Duran that he would hold court. It’s a ten minute walk from the museum. It doesn’t look much from the outside but walking in to the hotel lobby you catch a glimpse of the dining room. Nothing has changed. It’s grand in an old and odd way. Chairs that look like thrones dot the room and aqua blue glass chandeliers dominate the ceiling.

The waiters are old school. The food is predictably good. The gazpacho is excellent, the Serrano ham is skilfully carved off the bone of a large jamon, in front of you. The waiter deftly slices wafer thin slices. The shellfish and fish paella are memorable. There are plenty of well-to-do locals eating at lunch time and drinking their local wines.

After lunch it’s a winding drive to Cadaques, right in the heart of the Cap de Creus nature reserve. This a world famous fishing village, very cute and made up of an extensive network of narrow cobbled streets and numerous small and twisting alleys which all lead down to the sea shore.

The bay of Cadaques forms Catalonia’s largest natural harbour.

In the early morning a flotilla of fishing boats putter their way out to sea. It was here, right in this town, that Salvador Dali lived, worked and died.

It’s a quirky place and tourists descend in the summer season from all over the world.

Dinner that night is at Casa Anita. You will discover it up a side alley. It’s small, cramped and oozing character.

This was Dali’s big hang out. He insisted on sitting at the same table and chair each time he came.

Cadaques.

Joan is the owner, there is no written menu, she will tell you what is on and advise you.

I go for sardines with garlic and parsley. The sardines are simply grilled. Perfect. I sigh with pleasure and watch other diners enjoy and savour other tasty dishes. By the way, did I mention that the Spanish eat late?

A lot of places do not open till 8.30pm in the evening and most places don’t fill up till after 9pm which means people are really eating their main meal at 10pm.

At this stage you would imagine I’ve had enough fish but no, I could keep on eating it, no problem.

The fish which I have been eaten on this trip is so fresh. No doubt due to the fact that the Spanish have one of the most aggressive fishing fleets in the world. It also helps that demand is huge. The Spanish consume vast quantities of fish and demand the best. It seems to me that they get exactly what they want. More importantly, their cooks and chefs know what to do with this array of amazing fresh produce. It’s a lucky combination.

After a delicious meal I walk down to the seafront and sit at one of the open air bars. It’s 10.30 pm and dusk has just set in, the boats bob in front on an inky black sea.

Grilled sardines.

Spanish people chat loudly behind us. There are twinkling lights all along the foreshore.

There’s something about Caladques. I can almost see Salvador Dali with his twirled moustache, cloak and walking cane skipping down a laneway after a delicious fish meal. What an intriguing place Cadaques is. It is Dali country.

Casa Anita,

Co/Miguel Roses,

Cadaques.

0034 97 2258 471