A blast in Cadaques with the Lowreys

On Sunday at about 8:15 a.m., I met Shan, Fred and family at the airport, then S and I hopped the 9:46 a.m. train to Figueres. Conner and Fred drove ahead to Cadaqués (feature picture at top), dropped off the other two kids, then came back to the Figueres train station to pick us up, 2 very happy friends to have had 2 hours on the train to catch up over cava mimosas, nuts and dried fruit. What a perfect breakfast.

Here is the Lowrey family on day 1. We’re on our way to lunch at La Sirena:

We spent the next 2 days admiring the ever changing weather, trying out several different coffee shops to find the best café con leche, trying to figure out when the churros at our stand-by café were coming out hot, debating whether the wine in gasoline jugs was a safe bet to try (we never did, but they have 9 days left to be brave) and laughing, drinking and eating way too much. Shan brought me a gift I love – a chef’s jacket with a salty apron logo she designed and hand painted on it, as well as the words “salty apron” embroidered on it. Hands down, she is my most creative friend. I will cherish it, Shan 🙂

On Monday early evening, a big storm moved through and it was spectacular. The clouds were so crazy. I took a video on my new camera that is awesome. Can’t post it here, but below are a few pics of the clouds that came rolling through so fast I thought there was a chance they would turn into funnel clouds.

Picture 1 of storm clouds forming, still sunny skies:

Pic 2 of storm clouds forming:

Pic 3 of storm moving in:

Last night, after a fun dinner of some yummy thin crust pizza and way too much sangria, Siana and I really wanted some gelato. So, we ran out in what was likely the biggest downpour of the evening in search of gelato. No luck, but we had a great time getting soaked in the dreamy, little seaside town, and splashing in puddles like kids. Fred got some great pics.

This morning, after Conner and I were the first to journey out in search of croissants and coffee, I took off for about an hour’s walk to take pics and explore parts of the town I had not seen yet. Below are about a dozen pictures of the town, the streets, and different views from and around the bay. It is certainly dreamy.

Day 1 in Cadaques, view from our lanai:

A cute building:

Cadaques at night:

Front entrance to the house they rented:

Mediterranean Sea:

Rock creature I saw on my “hike” out to the point, looking back at the bay:

Cute street. Notice stones on the ground. Many streets are made of these:

Another view from a street in Cadaques:

It is true that if you are the uber adventurous type, you could ask, “is there much to do in Cadaqués?” But, what do you want to do in a small seaside town other than relax at outdoor restaurants and cafés, sit in the sun drinking your beverage of choice, go for a walk around the bay and take pictures, admire the stone streets, perhaps rent a boat and explore other coves, and try to endear yourselves to the locals, half of whom are amazingly warm and welcoming right away such as the pizzeria owner (woman from Barcelona who loves Seattle and wears a bomber jacket with an American flag on it) and some who take a while to smile (the lady at our favorite croissant shop, who finally on day 3 smiled when we walked in). It’s all about relaxing in Cadaqués. And, I like relaxing.

Today, Shan and I hopped the 2:30 bus back to Figueres and met the crew to go to the Dalí Teatre-Museu. What a trip. The bus driver made us nervous a few times taking those hairpin turns on the sides of those mountains faster than some cars were driving (in fact, he passed a car and we caught up to several others – frightening). And, what a trip (double meaning intended here) the Dalí museum was.

Here’s a view from the bus, cruising down the mountains:

I’m on the train back to Barcelona and I’m still trying to process what I think of Dalí’s art and the man. The museum itself was architecturally very cool. And, a few of the exhibits I did really enjoy. But, I have to say that much of my thoughts about his art are similar to what I heard a teenage kid who spoke mostly Arabic say – “F_cking weird.” The kid said it in English, so it was hard to miss. I smiled and nodded immediately, without having time to think about my reaction. I know that’s not sophisticated and some would argue that I just don’t understand it or I just don’t appreciate it. Maybe the former part of the last sentence is true, but the latter part is not.

I loved the “face” exhibit in which you had to walk up some narrow stairs with no rails (which would never fly in the U.S. due to our overly litigious and hence cautious society) and look through a lens underneath a camel’s belly to truly see the whole face and hair.

The face picture viewed through the camel’s leg lens:

I also appreciated many other pieces.

Here’s the courtyard – ummmm, are those Oscar statues? No, apparently they are maniqui de la fachada. Cool, though, and I thought the totally different components of the courtyard were awesome.

A view of the oscar statues, up close, and then a view of the courtyard from the inside:

Yes, it was raining today and you’re not allowed to use flash, so my pics are dark:

Here’s a pic of one of his most famous “clock” paintings that is so much better when seen in person:

And, there’s a fascinating fresco on the ceiling of the top floor of the building:

But, then there were a whole bunch of very graphic drawings in which I definitely got the impression Dali was a misogynist. I appreciate that he was deft at hand and his crazy mind put some intricately detailed, thought-provoking figures, symbols, and animals on paper, all together in very unconventional ways. But, seriously, enough of drawing women being torn apart, shat on, trampled, boobs being ripped off, and having things sharp objects protruding from the nipples.

I was disturbed and still am. Did I miss the point? Nope. I’m still thinking about it all – the ones I “liked” and didn’t like – so Dali’s art as a thought-provoking medium did its job. I just don’t need to think about the harshness depicted in his drawings. There are enough f-cking weird things in this world that disturb me. I don’t need to see them in my “art” as well. I like abstract, not graphically violent.

Back to my favorite subject – food. Did I have fantastic food in Cadaqués? I might not say fantastic, but definitely I had some good food. The special pizza we had with jamon ibérico, rocket and shaved parmesana was very good, but I’m a tough pizza critic and I’ve had excellent pizza in Minnesota and San Francisco. The hot, chocolate croissant straight out of the oven was something to drool over because it was hot and I did love it. But, when I got the same one at room temp the next day it didn’t beat out the one from my favorite bakery in Barcelona. The bocadillos were good, but all ham and cheese bocadillos on freshly baked baguettes should be – they are simple and pretty hard to screw up if one uses good ingredients. All in all, in a small, tourist town, I think we did very well finding the best of what it had to offer and I was happy with our food choices. I’m super full, if that’s any indication of satiety. I’m betting S & F and kids will find some more goodies in the next 9 days!

Back to work tomorrow and then possibly another trip back up to Cadaqués next Saturday. We’ll see what time I get off work on Friday night/early Sat. a.m. and see if I can make the 10:30 a.m. bus back to Cadaqués.