Monday, October 25, 2010

Tarragona, Beaches, and Dali (& Cava too)

We took a day trip to Tarragona which is about a 1 ½ hour train ride south of Barcelona. Thanks to our neighbor Clif ‘s recommendation (Thanks, Clif!), we visited this port city that was once the Roman capitol of Hispania. 

The Roman Aqueduct

Tarragona is a lovely city with great views of the Med and a remarkable variety of Roman ruins. It was especially interesting to see how the modern city has built itself on and around the tremains of the old Roman town. We began with the archaeological museum with its fabulous Roman mosaics and various items from daily Roman life. As always, we marveled at how creative and resourceful these ancient people were. Then, we checked out the many Roman ruins including the Roman Circus where the Romans held their chariot races and the Amphitheater where gladiators once fought.

We took a cab 3 km outside the city to the Roman Aqueduct (also called the Devil’s Bridge) . It was impressive, and we had hoped to walk on it; however, the site was closed for restoration. Lots of scaffolding surrounded the aqueduct, but it was still a magnificent sight.



The Beach at Barceloneta

We spent the next two days in a more relaxed mode strolling along the beaches of Barceloneta, a seaside resort about 10 minutes walk from our apartment. Barcelona is certainly a diverse city with medieval ruins, modern architectural wonders, and a beach too!

We also hopped a train down to the beach resort of Sitges (about 45 minutes south) where we enjoyed the small laidback town of whitewashed buildings that reminded us of Greece. The beach was lovely and the small shops were great for browsing.


Sitges

Saturday was “Dali Day.” We had arranged to take an all-day tour to visit the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres and also Dali’s home on the coast in Port Lligat (near the resort town of Cadaques). Dali was one wild and crazy dude! From the moment we first glimpsed the Dali Museum with its roof topped with giant eggs and gold figures that look like the Oscar statuettes, we knew we were in for something out of the ordinary.

The Dali Museum is almost a hallucinatory experience with all the bizarre surrealistic art and a good dose of Dali’s unique sense of humor. For example, a Cadillac on display in the huge courtyard “rains” inside the car if you put a euro in the money box. Initially, we thought that Dali must have been a lunatic; however, by the end of the day, we could appreciate his genius. He had great success not only in painting, but in sculpture, jewelry-making and even designed screen sets for Hollywood. A highlight of the jewelry room was a brooch with an actual “beating” red-jeweled heart.



Salvador Dali self-portrait

Dali was one of the few artists who became wealthy during his lifetime. He and his wife and soul mate, Gala, built a mansion on a gorgeous secluded harbor at Port Lligat. Just like the museum, the house reflects Dali’s playful style, but you also get a sense of the wonderful life he and Gala had together.
In many ways, Dali’s art seems like profanity on the canvas -- he took great joy in twisting classical works and themes in strange, shocking ways creating a surrealistic dream world all his own. He was quite a character that you might not take seriously especially with that ridiculous, pointed mustache. But his true genius was his creative energy and his simple, childlike humor. Who else would decorate his swimming pool with plastic images of the Michelin Man?

On our last full day in Barcelona, we explored another aspect of Catalan life: cava (i.e. champagne). The term champagne can only be used in France, so the Spanish sparkling wine is called cava. Our Wine and Cava tour took us into the famous Penedes wine region where we visited three vineyards. The first, Jean Leon, was a small exclusive place founded by the colorful character Jean Leon who owed the famous La Scala restaurant in Hollywood (with business partner James Dean) and hobnobbed with Hollywood starlets and even Ronald Reagtan and JFK.


Dali had a fetish for the Michelin Man!

Our second stop was at the Torres Winery, a huge almost factory-like operation but their Cabernet Sauvignon (with a hint of Tempranillo) was outstanding. The final stop was at Freixenet, the largest cava producer in Spain. (You may be familiar with Freixenet which is sold in the U.S. in a signature black bottle.) It was a fun day of wine-tasting out in the Tuscan-like countryside.



Wine and Cava Tour

This is our last day here in Barcelona (we think!). Our ship, the Celebrity Century, has been having some rudder issues. The Century’s previous cruise was aborted on the second day of sailing and all the passengers were forced off the ship and left to fend for themselves. The Century has been in dry dock for repairs ever since although we understand the ship is headed for Barcelona as we write this. As of the moment, ETA is 3:30 p.m. today (delayed from 11:00 a.m.).

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