A Saturday in and around Figueres

The current restrictions here permit us to move around all of Catalonia. We fear that this may change after Easter so we are taking advantage of every opportunity to safely see this new corner of Spain on the weekends. The town of Figueres is an hour north of us the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí. It features a museum housing his a large collection of his work. We booked tickets for 11am entry and had high hopes for strict social distancing. Sadly, was not the case, and we both felt uncomfortable being indoors around so many people. We did not stay long.

Dali’s art makes you engage and think, this is what I enjoy. Unfortunately, his best known work is in Madrid and other private collections; the selection in this museum was broad, but overall disappointing (many drafts and studies for pieces elsewhere). The most amazing thing for me was the museum building itself, and we did enjoy the jewelry wing.

Figueres is a small city and has a good vibe. After wandering the old town, we enjoyed a coffee in a sunny plaza to kill time before our lunch reservation.

We had plans at a restaurant with great reviews and were looking forward to a long lazy lunch. Ah, best laid plans... when booking I had written a separate email to the restaurant noting that we were only open to eating outside on the terrace which was shown on the Trip Advisor page. I asked them to let me know if this was not possible. I didn’t receive a reply but rather a second confirmation of our reservation; I assumed everything was fine. Wrong! The patio was deserted and it was indoor-seating-only in a space with low ceilings. We felt bad about bailing, but we are both in complete agreement about this.

In the end, we grabbed crepes (they constitute fast food when you are 15 minutes from the French border) and then took a lovely drive in the surrounding countryside, discovering the beautiful Darnius Lake, which saved the day!Read more