Staying in a Parador on
the Spanish Costa Brava

By George & Ninette Medovoy, Editors

The Parador de Aiguablava sits on the edge of Punta D’es Muts, a spectacular wooded peninsula on the winding shores of the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, in Spain.

By day, you can appreciate the wonderful view – rocky bluffs of varying shades of red, brown and violet; steep, sheer cliffs towering over the protected beach; and picturesque villas dotting the wooded hillsides.

The paradores, inaugurated in 1926 by the Marquis of Vega-Inclan, are distant inns operated by the Spanish government in castles and unoccupied convents and monasteries throughout Spain. In some cases, like the stunning Parador de Aiguablava, they are thoroughly modern in design.

(A meal overlooking the blue Mediterranean)

But regardless of their age, all of them come with modern conveniences like central heating and color TV. Of course, the historic paradores have the added value of Spanish history, so, for example, you might find yourself sleeping in the same room once used by Carlos V, when he stayed at the Castle of Jarandilla.

Aiguablava, An Hour's Drive from Barcelona

Aiguablava, which is not more than an extension of rock on the Cape of Bagur, is about an hour’s drive north of Barcelona on the autopista, an excellent toll expressway leading to the charming little seaside towns, camping sites and golden beaches of the Costa Brava – Spain’s sunny Mediterranean shoreline – which extends all the way up to Porta-Bou, itself nestled against the rim of the Pyrenees on the French border.

A delightful tour from Barcelona – which took us two days – is a combination of Aiguablava with Figueras, the home of the Salvador Dali Museum.

We took the exit for Sant Feliu de Guixols, a seaside resort of 9,000 souls with roots in a 12th-century Benedictine monastery, and continued on a two-lane coastal road until we met the sea. Sant Feliu is a good place to stop for lunch and try the fish stew in one of the town’s restaurants.

It is a real staple of the area. Try it with a glass of Castillo de Perelada white wine, produced from grapes grown about half an hour away in and around Emporda, an important wine producing center in the Pyrenees foothills.

After lunch, we drive north past more beaches and, finally, to the Parador de Aiguablava, where we met an exceptionally friendly concierge, who spoke to us in French (helpful is you don’t speak the native Catalan language). Lucky for us, he got us a wonderful room with a sea view.

Where Seagulls Played in the Wind

Outside the room, seagulls played in the wind against a Mediterranean backdrop. The parador has well-appointed rooms, an outdoor pool, indoor sauna and recreation rooms, a well-stocked bar, and a dining room facing the swimming pool. A footpath leads down to a small beach.

(A luxurious bedroom in the parador)

Aiguablava is a perfect bases for visiting the Dali Museum, about 20 miles inland in the a small town of Figueras, the birthplace of the famous surrealist artists.

His museum, inaugurated in 1974, is pure Dali, including the huge golden eggs standing on the roof of the rose-colored building and, inside, the bathtub on the ceiling – vintage assertions of the surrealist master’s independence form the established order of things.

Dali, of course, clearly knew what he was doing. "The difference between me and a madman," he once said, "is that I am not mad."
A true non-conformist, Dali was expelled from the School of Fine Arts in Madrid, where he had enrolled in the early 1920’s for opposing the teaching methods. The building housing the museum was once the Figueras theatre, but it was damaged duding the Spanish Civil War.

Figueras, the City Dearest to Dali

After it was rebuilt, Dali did the paintings in the central halls, showing himself and his wife Gala showering Figueras, the city dearest to him, with gold coins. The museum take sup the Placa de Gala Salvador Dali, on the other side of which is a small church and gift chop with copies of Dali’s work.

Dali loved this northern corner of the Costa Brava, deriving artistic strength from its enchanting light. He had his studio and home at the natural harbor of Port-Lligat near the seaside town of Cadaques, whose white houses form an incredible silhouette against the early morning sky.

For information on Spain, contact the Tourist Office of Spain at
www.okspain.org. For information on the paradores, contact www.parador.es.