14 June

Montserrat to Figueres to Cadaques. We traveled from Montserrat to Barcelona to catch a train for Figueres, where the Salvador Dali Museum/Theater is located. From Figueres we took the bus to Cadaques, a small coastal town where the Salvador Dali House Museum can be found. The Dali Theatre in Figueres is unlike any other museum you've attended. Dali designed it himself and filled it with his own art. It is more like a fun house at a carnival than a typical art museum. Anyone would say that Dali is 'weird' without studying him very much. After a visit to the museum, the word weird still applies but with much more depth and range. Dali ran the gamut of joyful and exuberant to dark and macabre. His wife, Gala, kept him somewhere anchored to planet Earth. The Dali Theatre shows this range. After visiting the theatre, we strolled Figueres and happened upon a plaza where the evening paseo, or stroll, was taking place. Andy and I took a bench and did a little people watching for about 45 minutes. We only left because a nearby toddler alerted us to the pigeon resting on the lamppost above our shady bench. Sensing impending pigeon doom, we headed toward the bus station. The bus to Cadaques passes through suburban sprawl (home improvement stores, gas stations, supermarkets, etc.) on its way to the mountains. The actual road from Roses, a major beach destination, and Cadaques is a rural, hairpin-turn affair where anxious motorists passed our bus on blind curves with oncoming traffic. Just before succumbing to severe car sickness, we arrived at the Cadaques bus terminal. Our hotel was just around the corner. After a stroll to the coast and a dinner of fisherman's stew (prepared in a Dutch oven no less), we crashed at our place for the evening.