Figueres to Cadaques and Back

 

Since we are staying another night in Figueres we decided to ride out to the seaside and check out the beaches.  The weather took a turn for the worse and was quite a bit cooler, but no rain in sight until later today.  A perfect day for a ride to the beach.

We headed east along a cycle path but soon lost the path and decided to ride the road.  It was a wide, 4-lane road but had a good wide shoulder so no problems.  

Roses, Espana

Roses is a bit of a resort town on a very pretty and sheltered bay.  The beaches are perfect, and from the looks of things they groom the beaches every night with some kind of tractor to keep them perfect.  We had a cup of café con leche, rode a bit further up to coast toward Cadaques, a seaside village that had been recommended to use.  But we had a 1,200 foot climb to get over, and by the time we got to the top in a huge wind we decided to not descend into town since we’d have to come back up.   

Cadaques at the bottom of the hill

 We turned around went back to Roses and had our lunch on the quai.

Top of the climb

Back to Roses

 Back in Figueres we went to the Salvador Dali museum and were not disappointed.  The sheer volume of art that he created is staggering and the variety of media he worked in runs from wood to metal to paint, and sculpture, painting, architecture, jewelry and all surreal.  Our pictures would not do his odd sentimentality justice but you can find a lot of his work on the web. 

Salvador Dali Museum, Figueres, Spain

Dinner had to be paella and the owner of the hotel suggested a small little restaurant just down the street, Maisin Ascador.  It was Sunday evening, and not much is open in Spain at any time on Sunday, but this little restaurant was.  The paella is cooked on order, so it took about 45 minutes, but we sipped a nice local wine and had tapas while we waited.

Water and wine

Paella

It was worth the wait; best paella we’ve ever had.  Lorie also had an almond torte for dessert.

This blog is kind of getting a foodie character to it and I apologize for that.  Good thing we're burning a lot of calories per day on the bike or we'd be carrying even more weight up the hills!

Off to Olot tomorrow, which is about 80 km inland from Figueres.  But first we do battle with Correos (the Spanish postal system) to try to get the bag for Das Bike out of detention (presumably we’ll have to pay a ransom...tax).