A lake-like bay

Let’s return to Cadaqués I posted about some time ago (here) and have a look at its most famous sight, the tiny village of Portlligat (also spelled Port Lligat) where Salvador Dalí had his main residence from 1930 until the death of his wife Gala in 1982. The residence is now open to public as the House Museum Salvador Dalí.

Portlligat is only a 15-min walk away from Cadaqués on the other side of the hill northeast of the town centre. We did not take the shortest route as we were headed to the tip of the Cap de Creus peninsula, the easternmost point of Spain (more about that here). When returning we made a detour to the spectacular bay dotted with white boats. The beach and small quay were bordered with fishing boats; the village still serves as the harbour for many of the local fishermen.

The gorgeous sheltered bay is a kind of a lagoon very much resembling a lake surrounded by small hills. It was easy to perceive why this scene fascinated Dalí more than any other and why he portrayed it in many of his works.

Dalí used to spend the summers in Cadaqués meeting his friends and their friends there. In 1929, the French surrealist poet Paul Éluard came with his wife Gala and their daughter Céline. From that August on, Dalí and Gala were a couple never to leave each other’s side. Dalí soon found a small fisherman’s cottage for them at Portlligat. Over the next forty years, he gradually extended the house creating the labyrinth-like terraced piece of art that was their home.

We did not even try to see any of the eccentric and shocking interior, however. It was almost closing time and in any case the museum requires advance booking. This is because they only let visitors enter in small groups of up to eight people every ten minutes. I am sure this system will save many headaches during high season.

So the closest we got to witnessing any surrealism at Portlligat was the cypress tree growing through an old rotten fishing boat on the small square in front of the museum. An ideal disguise for this cat to have its afternoon nap, don’t you think?