Besalú and the Dalí Museum in Figueres - 10/25/13

This morning we were up early because we had to meet our driver Daniel and guide Montse (short for Montserrat) at 9AM.  On today’s agenda were a trip north, nearly to the French border to Besalú and Figueres.

Besalú is a charming and peaceful medieval town at the confluence of the Riu Fluvia and the  Riera Capellades.  The origin  of the town is its castle which is documented to have been there at least since the 10^th century.  At one time Besalú was the capital of an independent county but it lost its importance after one of the counts died leaving no successor.  The town played a part in the Catholic reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula after the Moors had pushed across the Pyrenees into France all the way to Poitiers.  Besalú became one of the fortresses guarding the path across the mountains.

The town is most famous for its Jewish miqwah which was discovered unexpectedly in 1964.  A miqwah (or mikwah) was a ritual cleansing pool usually located below ground level with no piping or channeling  so it could be filled with water from a fountain or river.  This one is the only building of its kind found in Spain and the third largest of the ten that have been conserved in Europe.  It’s constructed in hewn stone in the Romanesque style and is located below what documents dating to 1264 show was once a synagogue.  There was evidently a thriving Jewish community in the town under the protection of the king whose personal physician was a Jewish doctor.

The Miqwah Pool

Also worth seeing is the Church of Sant Vicenç.  Records show the church in existence as early as 977.  It too is a Romanesque construction with certain elements showing a transition to Gothic architecture.  The entrance to the town is via a spectacular old bridge.  The bridge has seven arches and has a dogleg layout because the support pillars for the arches are sited on natural rocks in the riverbed.  It’s 105 meters long and has a sentry tower about midway.  The bridge has been rebuilt several times, most recently after being dynamited during the Spanish Civil Was.  When it was rebuilt it was done under the supervision of an Architectural Board so that it would be true to style.

The bridge to Besalú

Al & Montse, our guide

Our next stop was the city of Figueres, birthplace of Salvador Dalí  and home of the Dalí Theatre Museum. Dalí is the famous Spanish surrealist painter born in 1904.  The museum is located in the former Municipal Theatre of Figueres.  The building was all but destroyed in the Spanish Civil War.  Dalí decided he wanted to have his museum on that site because as he said he was 1) a very theatrical painter, 2) it is across the street from the church where he was baptized and 3) because his first exhibition was In the lobby of the theatre before its destruction.  He supervised the construction personally.  The exterior of the building is very fanciful.  It’s pink with lots of gold painted loaves of bread plastered to the walls.  Along the roofline are golden statues which reminded me of Oscars.

Inside the museum is just as unusual.  A lot of Dalí’s art has many layers of meanings.  There were a number of paintings in which one could see different things when looked at with the naked eye or through the viewfinder of a camera.  One of the stranger ones was a painting he did by flogging an octopus on a canvas.  Some of the painting is octopus ink, some of it paint.  One can see Dalí’s foot prints are on there.  Visible through the camera is a face.  Across the central courtyard is another painting which looks like a woman but when seen through the camera there is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln.  Very strange!   Many of the paintings are of Dalí’s wife Gala.  I have always thought of Dalí as a surrealist but two of the most beautiful paintings in the collection at the museum are two realist paintings, one of Gala and one of a basket with a loaf of bread.  They are incredible!  They could have been photographs; they are so wonderfully done.  Years ago I volunteered at an elementary school and taught kids about some of the great masters.  One of their favorites always seemed to be Dalí and especially his masterpiece “The Persistence of Memory.” That one is in New York, but an earlier study is in the museum in Figueres and it was interesting to see and think about the evolution that became perhaps his most famous work.

The multi-layered painting made using an octopus

After a great day we went back to Barcelona.  Daniel was a great driver and Montse was a fantastic guide!  As we were returning to our hotel she told us that around the corner was a good restaurant.  We decided to give it a try so we dined at Bar Lobo, literally around the corner and in the same building as our hotel.  We sat at a table outside in a little square and watched the world go by.  It was a wonderful evening.  Thank you for the recommendation, Montse!

Well, tomorrow we begin our voyage on the Quest. More later.