Another stay

Once again, my daughter’s Maine Coons were staying with us, this time for two weeks while she was taking care of the dog of a friend who was recovering from an operation.

Even though the cats are very sweet and cute and quite manageable, their visit does always require some special arrangements, mainly because of their large size. The male giant has no problem reaching door handles, for example. It does feel rather luxurious now that they are gone and we no longer need to lock or block the doors they are not allowed to open. Such as the walk-in closet.

Speaking of the closet also know as the black hole, clearing it out will be one of my April projects. Much easier said than done I’m afraid.

The secluded Catalan

Many of you probably recognize this white silhouette. It is Cadaqués, the easternmost town of Spain on the peninsula of Cap de Creus in Catalonia. Even if you hadn’t visited the place you may remember it thanks to Salvador Dalí who spent his childhood summers there and later created his main residence just outside the town.

Stairway not to heaven but to the town hall.

Cadaqués is another former Catalan fishing village that now relies on tourism. Much thanks to Dalí and the many other artists who are known to have spent time there tourists have been pouring in since the 1960s. Yet the town’s present outline is delightfully unspoiled. The hotels have been built a bit further away to preserve the authenticity of the place.

The picturesque old town with its stairways and archways and its narrow paved allies of slate and cobble called rastells is very much the same it has been for centuries.

House of Serinyana or the Blue House.

The glazed earthenware jug on the lady's head is a local specialty called doll.

But something has changed having brought further unique features to the townscape. In the early 20th century, a large number of inhabitants emigrated from Cadaqués to Cuba, Haiti, Argentina, Mexico and New York. According to some estimates as many as 400 left from the village of some 1200 people. The luckiest ones made a fortune and returned showing their wealth by building luxurious ornate houses for themselves to live in. The modernist houses with Cuban style characteristics still embellish the seafront.

Cadaqués is located only some 35km from the town of Figueres where Dalí was born. However, the rough mountains on the peninsula kept the village isolated from the rest of the mainland for centuries, perhaps even longer. The secluded bay was practically like an island where all the Mediterranean seafarers have taken refuge at one time or another. Sardinians, Etruscans and Egyptians visited, Greeks and Romans came to stay for quite some time. Furthermore, because of the unprotected location of the village pirates used to be a constant threat.

On the sunny afternoon two years ago in early May, nothing could have been more distant from our minds than ferocious pirates. I bet the few hours our group of four couples and a bebé spent by the pebble beach was exactly the place to be at that moment for each and every one of us.

The little snow we had a couple of weeks ago is now gone. Normally, there would be some for several more weeks. At about this time, we would generally be busy preparing for our Mediterranean break. This season, however, there is so much to do at home we are skipping the spring holiday. Instead, I will continue posting on the two earlier ones I’ve very much neglected here. There are so many great moments to think back to it might be possible to stay happy without actually travelling anywhere.

Climbing for a view

One more walk in Catalonia, this time in the town of Llafranc, again on the Costa Brava. Here we climbed the winding street to the lookout by the hilltop lighthouse of Sant Sebastià.

On a warm spring day, the climb felt a bit tough getting you slightly out of breath but we were handsomely rewarded up there. A gorgeous view towards the lovely turquoise bay and sandy beach of Llafranc, and to the next town of Calella de Palafrugell and beyond opened up in front of our eyes.

As climbing down the hill was less of a problem I took some time to admire the blooming. Lavender, red valerian, crimson bottlebrush... 

When back at sea level, or thereabouts, we took a short break having some refreshments at a café on the boulevard by the beach. Finally, we walked the paved path around the rocky cape to have a look across the bay and at the next bay, too.

The message on the hand-painted tiles on a stone wall in Llafranc certainly got it right. This was another site so nicely kept and beautified it would be a crying shame not to respect that.

Llafranc is one of the three seaside resorts belonging to the municipality of Palafrugell, the other ones being the adjacent Calella de Palafrugell and the tiny Tamariu a few kilometres up north.