Natural Park "Cap de Creus" About the place Cap de Creus national park Cap de Creus from Cadaques
We didn’t even plan to go to the cape, looking at sites on the Internet, I thought that the landscapes there were boring compared to the lush greenery of the Costa Brava. But being in Cadaques, at the last moment we decided to go anyway.
It takes 20 minutes by car from Cadaques. We drove as the sun set and the cape appeared before us in a golden hue. I think during the day, when the sun is shining, the water plays with colors and the views are even more beautiful.
But even despite the setting sun, the color of the water remains turquoise.
Cap de Creus is a national volcanic park formed by repeated volcanic eruptions - Paleosian rocks, craters, grottoes and miraculous caves. Wind-eaten rocks sometimes resemble a lunar landscape. The rocks are blown by the Tramontana wind. Its speed is 150 km/h and you can feel it when you arrive at the park. It seems that it will simply be blown away by the wind.
All three primary elements are represented on the cape - water - the blue-turquoise sea, earth with an incredible texture of stone and air that can be inhaled to its fullest. Here, like nowhere else, you feel close to nature. It was these places that inspired Dali to create his masterpieces, and he left a couple of paintings with views of the cape to the world.
It was on Cap de Creus that a film based on Jules Verne’s novel “A Dangerous Light at the End of the World” was shot.
There is a cafe, a hotel where you can take a break in the heat, and a restaurant. This is all located on the top of the mountain, near the lighthouse. The view of the bays is breathtaking.
This is where you want to linger, stand on the top, contemplate the landscapes, when the wind blows on you from all sides with incredible power. When you watch the sun slowly set, causing the shades of the mountains, water, sky to change, and there is silence and the roar of the wind all around. I don’t know why, but I feel such a surge of strength, the cape is some incredibly energetic place. And I will say that during our entire trip around Catalonia, when we saw many cities, beautiful bays, cathedrals, etc., Cap de Creus remained the most vivid impression.
The Cap de Creus Natural Park (Parco Naturale Cap de Creus) is located on the Creus Peninsula in Catalonia, near Lloret de Mar - it is one of the largest protected areas in the region. The park was created in 1998 and occupies an area of almost 14 thousand hectares, of which a little more than 3 thousand hectares are the coast. Within the boundaries of the park there are two particularly valuable areas - in fact, Cape Creus with the legendary lighthouse of the same name, on which the film "Dangerous Light at the End of the Earth" was filmed in 1971, and Cape Norfeu - a place of exceptional geological and biological importance, where they were discovered traces of volcanic activity more than 10 million years old. As for the water area of the park, it is worth adding Cape Gros to the two above-mentioned capes - all three places are distinguished by a huge variety of underwater life.
One of the main and most picturesque attractions of Creus Park are the amazingly shaped geological formations, which excite the imagination of tourists with their beauty and complexity. Some see in them real or mythical animals - lions, dragons, camels, eagles, cats, mice, while others understand that this is just the result of the work of water and wind over hundreds of thousands of years. The formation of the park's landscape continues to this day.
Nature lovers will find a huge variety of flora at Cape Creus, including endemics such as saxifrage and carnation, as well as native spurges, astragalus and oceanic podsidonia. The fauna of the park is represented by no less interesting species - the Mediterranean tree frog, crested cormorant and brown grouper.
The most popular recreational activities in the park among tourists are diving and hiking. There are interesting routes throughout the park introducing visitors to the rich natural, cultural and historical heritage of these places, as well as land and underwater archaeological sites.
November 8th, 2011
And again Spain.
There is absolutely no time to sort through the photos from the spring trip and continue the report that I started. I’ll slowly process the photos and eventually post the ending, but for now I’ll share my fresh impressions of my autumn trip along the Costa Brava-Barcelona-Toledo-Madrid-Valencia route.
Costa Brava. In Dali's places.
It was decided to devote this trip to Catalonia entirely to Dali. I have been very passionate about it for a long time (by the way, I was born with Dali on the same day :))), both about it and surrealism in principle, so the plan for such a trip has been brewing for a long time. And how timely Vizeir launched flights to Girona! :)
The Dali Triangle is the Dali Museum in Figueres, the house in Port Yigata, the castle in Pubol. And of course Cap de Creus. In this order, it was decided to visit all these objects, and at the same time take a ride along the Costa Brava and swim in the sea.
So Figueres
Figueres turned out to be a completely ordinary small Spanish town, where the main attraction is, of course, the Dali Museum.
I forgot to order tickets in advance, but in principle this did not interfere, there was no queue, we calmly bought tickets and entered.
The museum, or rather the theater-museum in Figueres, arose as a gift from Dali to the city. The mayor once asked Dali to give him one of his works, Dali decided not to waste time on trifles and donate it to the museum right away. Many of his works are located there, and Dali himself is buried there.
Dali wanted there to be no guides in the museum, so that the perception of his works would remain untainted by the opinions of others. But nevertheless, there are a lot of groups in the museum with guides, mostly Russian-speaking. To be honest, it's a little disturbing.
Dali's world is quite specific. The world of surrealism, the world of the absurd, phantasmagoria, dreams and funny solutions. The museum presents works by Dali, works by other surrealists, as well as works and reproductions of Dali’s favorite Velazquez, Vermeer, Millet, and El Greco. In some places these works were completed by Dali himself; it is very interesting to look for differences.
Dali's tombstone
Some sources write that Dali bequeathed to bury himself under the floor of the museum so that people could walk on his grave. Others write that the crypt is located somewhere in the wall, next to the women's bathroom. Actually, he managed to do a quest from his grave. :)
I began to describe the halls, look at photographs, but then I realized that you just need to visit this space and feel all the charm of Dali’s madness and imagination.
A very interesting place.
I really wanted to stay in Cadaques, but because of the big crushing toad (in Cadaqués, housing prices are 2 - 2.5 times higher) I had to stop in Roses, a neighboring town, 7 km from Cadaques. A very nice, completely ordinary resort town, where 90 percent of tourists are French, in all the shops the sellers say not “Ola!”, but “Bonjour!”
Incredibly clean sea, clean even after 5 pm, beautiful large half-empty sandy beaches, inexpensive restaurants on the shore, a very calm and peaceful atmosphere
The next day we went to Cadaques. There is a rather tiring serpentine road leading there; it is difficult to drive there at more than 40 km per hour, and there are a lot of cars. We entered the city and the navigator, an infection, decided to lead us through some vegetable gardens, as a result, a couple of times we almost drove into someone’s garage and even into someone’s door, we drove along some completely broken paths, steep hills, then into the center with a closed movement, miraculously found at least some parking and finally breathed freely and went for a walk around the city.
I’ll say right away that I immediately understood why the prices for accommodation there were so high. The town is absolutely magical. A very real Mediterranean fishing town, without any of those typical multi-storey hotels on the shore, with cobblestone streets, boats and white houses with blue shutters and tiled roofs.
Unfortunately, it was on this day that the enemies decided to experiment with the camera settings, as a result, almost all the photographs turned out to be completely overexposed :(, there are only a few left, but I think something will be clear.
The only thing that can be considered a minus of Cadaqués is the lack of a beach (well, for whom does this matter). The city beach is pebble and microscopic, only 10-15 people can fit there. But in the surrounding area on the way from Port Yigata to Cap de Creus there are many small charming coves with crystal clear water, an underwater world and in some places almost no people at all. You can walk there, you can rent a bike (by the way, it’s very inexpensive, about one and a half euros a day, even on Tarkhankut, in my opinion, it’s more expensive), or by car.
Dali House Museum
The Dali House Museum in Port Yigata is located about a kilometer and a half from Cadaqués. You cannot buy tickets on the spot; you must order in advance, then arrive no later than an hour before the start of the excursion and pick up your tickets at the box office and then wait for your turn. Some kind of hotel has already been built in the vicinity, from the pier boats take tourists to see Cap de Creus from the sea, but in Dali’s time, when all this tourist infrastructure did not yet exist, this was an ideal place to live. Greenery, sea, sun, secluded location, just a paradise to live. Oh, what a place. As a teenager, when I read Dali’s book with photographs of this house, I imagined paradise somewhere like this. :)
There are many different surreal installations around the house, a dilapidated boat with a menacing “do not touch” sign hanging on it.
True, there are local residents inside the boat, whom it seems that you shouldn’t touch them either :)
Finally, our time came and we were allowed into the house. They let in 8-10 people. The tour is conducted in Catalan, Spanish or English, depending on the preferences of tourists. Each part of the house has its own guide, they tell you in very detail and interestingly, but each part of the house is given no more than 10 minutes. This is because all the objects and works of art in the house are original and it is difficult for them to keep track of visitors.
The Figueres Museum is a public space, a theatre, a performance, an installation. But a house in Port Yigata is a space for two, for life, for love. It is a very personal space, built for very specific people. The house is planned in a very unique way, there is not a single corridor, the spaces flow into each other. Dali's rooms and Gala's rooms - they are like the relationship of a couple during the days of their lives - they meet and separate, only to meet again later. Each has its own living room, dressing room and workshop, with its own special features, there are common areas, a bedroom, living rooms for entertaining and for two only. There are no traditional “space-planning solutions”; there are spaces, multi-level, diverse, different and at the same time united by common happiness and love.
Hallway
Living room for guests
This is a personal living room combined with a bedroom.
These mirrors were specially oriented so that Dali could see the sunrise on Cap de Creus from his bed, as he said, the very first of all Spaniards. Cap de Creus is the easternmost point of Spain.
Gala's living room. There is also a real Russian samovar there.
Gala's restroom
Dali's workshop.
Here are his unfinished paintings.
When Gala died, Dali left everything as it was and left his house in Port Yigata for Pubol and until his death he lived there and never returned to this house and to these begun works.
Garden and pool
Dali's favorite objects, which he used in all his installations, are portraits and photographs of Gala, eggs, swans, tires, antique statues with unexpected decor, horned supports, lip sofas and much more. Such a homely and cozy space. This house is like the favorite toy of the master and his muse, a real little temple of personal happiness for two.
Cap de Creus
Cap de Creus is a national park, and the name of the cape (cap is cape), the easternmost point of Spain. The place is completely surreal and even alien. As it turned out, Dali painted his paintings from life. On the way there, for some reason, all radio stations stopped being picked up except for one Catalan station with classical music and very extravagant jazz. Driving a car to such music through deserted surreal landscapes is a very special feeling; for some time it seemed to me that I was driving some kind of all-terrain vehicle on another planet.
I really regret that it was not possible to park and take pictures of the road. There is a very narrow road without any pockets or shoulders, sharp turns, and no way to stop at all.
There are a lot of mysterious pyramids of stones all around; Dali also has them in his paintings. They can hardly be natural, they are simply stacked on top of each other, but somehow I can’t even imagine what kind of person needs to climb rocks and hard-to-reach places and build these pyramids. They tried to convince me that these were the machinations of enterprising local residents, but I doubt it. No one takes money for viewing, no one lives around, it’s at least an hour’s drive along a serpentine road from the nearest populated area. Only the aliens remain, there is no one else. :)
Magical place. A very beautiful nature reserve. And these places had a great influence on Dali’s work.
The next morning a trip to Pubol and Girona was planned. But one day it was gloomy, everyone overslept, while they were getting ready and all that, there was very little time left. And since there was only one evening and morning left for Barcelona, we decided not to gallop and leave Pubol with Gerona for the next trip and go to Barcelona. Vizeir seems to be flying to Girona for now, so I think we’ll definitely go to Pubol.
Catalonia is a very unusual place. The Catalan land is rich in very special talents. Gaudi, Dali, Miro. Absolutely original forms, a riot of colors and phantasmagoric images. For some reason it seems to me that this is all due to the terrain. On the border of two great cultures and arts - Spanish and French, an unusual, original and completely unique Catalan culture arose. In my opinion, there is nothing like it anywhere in the world. There is still a lot of interesting things to do in Catalonia and the Costa Brava and I hope to definitely return to these places.
Cap de Creus is the easternmost point of mainland Spain and the entire Iberian Peninsula.
The Pyrenees mountains, separating Spain and France, descend here from their sky-high heights and extend into the Mediterranean Sea with rocky shoots, forming truly unearthly landscapes. 
Constantly blowing piercing sea winds make the cape's vegetation extremely sparse (mostly thorny bushes), and the volcanic rocks turn into something like a stone sponge.
All this creates the impression of a completely alien landscape, which could be a great location for filming science fiction films. I think the only reason this hasn’t happened yet is those same winds. The gusts of the legendary Tramontana can be so strong that you literally have to hold on to the rocks to avoid being blown into one of the picturesque coves.
At the far end of the cape stands a lighthouse built on the ruins of an ancient Roman signal tower.
Not far from the lighthouse there is another building. There was once a NCIS base here, and now it’s a bar and restaurant. A better name for this place would be “Restaurant at the End of the Earth” - this is exactly the feeling you get when you drink whiskey here after a 3-hour walk along the rocks and the Tramontana blew your mind away.
The Catalan end of the world is located 25 kilometers from the border with France, and eight from the most picturesque fishing town, world famous by Salvador Dali. 
You can get here from Cadaques in about 15 minutes by car, or you can walk along a mountain path. The second option will take about two and a half hours, but will leave a lot of impressions and many magnificent photos as a memory.
The most beautiful sight on Cap de Creus is the sunrises and sunsets. For a number of reasons, we have not yet seen the sunrise, but we were lucky enough to see the sunset on the way back to Cadaqués. 
At this point, as usual, the phone battery ran out, and we watched the most beautiful part of the sunset live, and not through a pixel screen.
You can visit and see with your own eyes all its beauty within our framework.