Ah, Barcelona! How many times have we been here? And how many times more do we have planned? Well, lets just say a lot! We are here for an overnight on this trip, so we have planned one day of driving up the coast to tour more Dali museums, and one day just staying in town. We’ve been watching the recent political situation here very closely, and since weekends are much more likely to have staged protests, we’ve decided to go out of the city today (Sunday) and hopefully miss any “excitement.” We also figure if something goes wrong today, we don’t have to panic about missing the ship due to the overnight port schedule.
As usual, we head off the ship first thing after docking. The RCL daily sheet has conflicting information about the port shuttle and the port blue bus – stating the blue bus (which is municipal) doesn’t start running until after 9:30. We don’t think that is right, but it is Sunday, and so – against our better judgement, we take the port shuttle for 5 Euros roundtrip. Sigh. We know better. Thank heavens we are not in a hurry, because once we buy our shuttle tickets we board the bus and sit….and sit….and sit….and watch 2 blue port buses go by while we wait for them to fill the bus. Argh. 20 minutes later, the bus finally leaves and we arrive at the World Trade Center no worse for wear.
Picking up the car is a breeze, as usual. We know exactly where the Sixt rental office is, and we’re driving our upgraded Renault, complete with GPS, in a flash. This time we successfully manage getting onto the litoral Ronda road and out of the city easily. No construction, no wrong turns, no being stuck in the middle of the intersection, almost on the tram tracks at a red light. Nice! This new GPS app, and the back up GPS in the car, are a god-send.
The hour and a half drive is mostly uneventful – except for the tolls. The first toll is 1 Euro 61 cents. 1.61? Who though 1 cent was a smart idea? And of course it is unmanned so it takes forever if you are paying cash, sorting through all the coins to find Euro pennies. We put in exact change, but it won’t take the 1 Euro cent. What? Come on. Finally we put in a 2 Euro cent coin and we get 6 Euro cents back. How does that make sense? Honestly!
But, after that (and another 12 Euros or so in tolls), it is mostly a smooth ride out to Pubol, the location of the Castell Gala-Dali. That is until TIM decides to send us in the back way to Pubol – why? Who knows? Maybe it was 1/2 a kilometer shorter? We’ll never know, we just know that he made us turn off onto this little road when the sign to the Castell said straight. And off we go down cow paths and ruts in the valley…
…until we finally arrive in Pubol and drive through the cute little village until we finally find the public parking lot. Phew. It’s always an adventure! After a restroom break (conveniently located in the parking lot), we set off up the hill to find the castle. I’ve wanted to come here since last year, when we visited the Dali museum in Figueres. This is the 11th Century castle Dali purchased and furnished for his wife, his muse, Gala. He outfitted it in creative fashion to reflect her style, but his creativity while around her – and then he never lived here until after her death. Gala and her lover lived here for years until her death. Ultimately, it became his last workshop and is now the mausoleum for Gala.
It is a neat little castle, situated around a courtyard and beautiful gardens we will visit later. We wander around the courtyard, watching a quick video of different scenes from around the property, then venturing down into the mausoleum to visit Gala’s grave.
Back downstairs, we manage to avoid the crowds and tour the rest of the rooms – the Piano room, which is the bulk of the living area and has the most amazing set of huge carved wood doors. Plus a fabulous porcelain vase made in the shape of all cut out flowers.
We tour Gala’s bedroom and bath – deceptively opulent in its simplicity.
And look at a few displays of Dali’s art – I particularly love the melting watch in glass on a hanger.
Oh, and let’s not forget the chess set with fingers as the figurines!
There are some great views out the windows of virtually every room.
Back outside, we wander through the garage that has a couple of the cars he collected, including this huge 80’s vintage Cadillac that we can’t even begin to imagine how he drove through these little village lanes and passageways. Above the garage is the terrace, with pomegranate trees, where we spend a few minutes watching birds break into the fruits to get the seeds. They almost completely disappear into the pomegranate trying to eat the seeds. You can totally understand what a wonderful place this would be to relax and work, while taking in the peaceful countryside around you.
Lastly, we visit the gardens, walking through the lush, tropical plants, visiting the pool, and enjoying the wacky and weird elephant sculptures on either side of the garden pathways.
A few quick pictures on the terrace…
….and we make our way through the teeny village streets
and back to our car. While it was a quicker visit than I imagined, it was well worth it and made interesting more for the story that goes along with the castle than the actual castle itself. It is really cool to think that this is where Dali spent his last years, and where he worked and lived in the memory of his great love. The museum in Figures was fantastic for the artwork and to see how his mind worked, but this castle is wonderful not only for his creativity, but for the feelings it evokes. Good find!
Back in the car we ignore TIM’s advice to go back through the cow paths, and follow signs that point us back to the main road and on to Figueres to continue our day outside of Barcelona.
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