Our day started early at the office of Explore Catalunya where we met our tour guide Lydia. It was a 1.5 hour trip from Barcelona to Figueres but it went quickly as Lydia described the history of Catalunya, the movement for independence and the life of Dali.
Salvador Dali created his museum in Figueres, a formerly unknown city which is now famous for his museum that is the second most visited in Spain behind the Prado. It's housed in a former theatre that was damaged by fire before being purchased by Dali.
The museum was amazing, filled with his paintings, sculptures and jewellery with crazy stuff everywhere. It was also filled with tourists and the design of the space with narrow halls and dead ends made it a bit tricky to get around. It was great to have a guide to explain the symbolism he used. For example ants and flies symbolise death, rhino horns ultimate perfection and eggs life.
Here's Ed next to his 'Raining Taxi' where there's water falling like rain inside.
Dali had an incredible understanding of physics and was always experimenting. This pixel painting which he created is incredible. To the naked eye it looks like a woman with coloured squares behind her but when you take a photo of it (or look through special lenses) it looks like Abraham Lincoln.
Our next stop was Cadaques, a beautiful seaside village which is actually very close to the border with France.
We had lunch overlooking the sea. We had sandwiches with salami and the tomato spread and some olives to nibble on - best sandwiches ever!
We went for a walk along the beach and sea wall. It was really quiet as it's impossible to reach without a car, so most tourists can't get there.
After Cadaques we went over the hill to Portlligat to Dali's house. Initially he bought a fisherman's hut with only a few rooms, and over many years of living there he bought adjoining properties and together with his wife created an amazing house and garden filled with crazy and delightful objects.
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