Visitors return…

My first year here in Spain I entertained 30 visitors – friends and family. It was fun all the time… overwhelming and tiring at times… but always welcome!

The next couple of years due to COVID, I had many fewer visitors (almost none). While I love being here alone in my little paradise, I also love seeing my friends and family and showing them the wonders of the Costa Brava. So, after a couple of years “off duty,” the visitors are coming back! I’m putting on my tour guide hat again. The parade has begun!

In the past, I’ve not commented a lot on my travels. I guess I’ve had more to say about the culture and customs, but it seems time.

One of the first stops for all of my visitors to Begur is to Salvador Dalí’s house in Port Lligat near Cadaqués, Spain. It’s about an hour and a half from here and the drive, though slightly “white knuckly” toward the end, is also stunning. It’s a charming town just a hop skip and a jump from France.

Dalí chose to make his primary residence just up the road in Port Lligat. He took several old fishing huts and converted them into a somewhat bizarre one bedroom home (so that no guests could spend the night), studio, and garden for himself and his wife/muse, Gala. I could write about Dalí all day, but suffice it to say he was an eccentric artist whose house/museum is worth the price of admission. I’ve taken almost all of my guests there and been on the tour probably a dozen times or more. The guides recognize me now. I think I know the spiel by heart. Cadaqués offers several great restaurants!

Another recent visit was a return one to Canfranc station. This enormous railroad station is basically in the middle of nowhere, midway in the Pyrenees between the Bay of Biscay to the north and the Mediterranean to the south. It was chosen because of its position on a direct route from Paris to Madrid and because of its strategic location in a narrow pass between the mountains that would make invasion from France very difficult. Originally conceived in the 1850’s, the station was not completed until 1928. It was an important link between France and Spain and Portugal during WWII (“Casablanca of the Pyrenees”) – a safe passage for Jews, allied troops, and other refugees from occupied France. It was a place full of intrigue and after being taken over by the Nazis, it was also a vital link for trafficking tungsten from Portugal and Spain to Germany for the manufacture of bullets and tanks, in exchange for Nazi gold from Germany.

After the war, the station slowly fell into disrepair until it eventually was closed down completely in 1970 after a derailment. Recently, it’s been restored into a 5-star hotel, so a return visit was in order.

Pamplona is an all-time favorite of mine. Tapas are everywhere and are the best! Maybe San Sebastián has them beat, but Pamplona is a lot of fun. It’s the scene of course of the annual running of the bulls, and much of the small city is focused on bulls and the bullring. Catalunya where I live has outlawed bullfighting, proving how humane and progressive they are!

Valencia has impressed me. Catalans diss it, but it’s a beautiful city, the third largest in Spain. Besides the old town with its charming plazas, there is a City of Arts and Sciences – an area of town at the end of a long and vibrant central park built on a dry riverbed – with six very modern, dynamic buildings housing a planetarium, aquarium, science museum, and performing arts center.

My final stop during this trip was Tarragona, but my neck went out of whack and I missed the Roman amphitheater. Damn it. I’ll have to go back one day…

Often the last spot on my “tour!” of the Costa Brava is Sitges, a beach town with the reputation of being gay-friendly. That probably began during a time when the rest of Spain was not-so-much gay-friendly. But now, the city continues to have lots of rainbow flags and gay bars, but there are also families and tourists of all stripes. It’s just 25 minutes from the BCN airport, so it makes for a nice relaxing evening at a restaurant overlooking the sea prior to a stressful early morning flight!

Come try it with me!

And then there was a mural near the airbnb in Valencia (home of paella)! Wha? A lady with large tassled breasts in a frying pan where the paella should be!