Salvador Dalí junior was born twice so it was never going to be an ordinary life. His father, also called Salvador, and Felipa Domenech had their first baby in 1901. But young Salvador sadly died in infancy and when their next child was born, the Dalís agreed he should have the same Christian name.

Their famous son was born in Figueres on the same street as Narcis Monturiol, the inventor of the submarine. Carrer Monturiol is rather ordinary looking but it is also known as the ‘street of the three geniuses’. The trio is completed by Carles Fages de Climent, a poet whose books were once illustrated by Dalí. It was Fages who said “Three geniuses, Monturiol, myself and Salvador Dalí were born here”. In fact, a fourth genius could easily be added to the list. There’s a plaque further down the street to Alexander Torres, who had a long list of achievements in the field of science, arts and letters.

The town of Figueres, which lies on the Empordà plain, between Girona and the French border, certainly has a penchant for the bizarre. Before visiting the Dalí museum, I stopped off at the Café Dalícatessen opposite the cathedral in Carrer Sant Pere. On the wall of the café are two clocks; one at local time and the other showing the hour in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where there is also a Dalí museum.

My Dalíesque daydream was just beginning. In the Plaça de Gala i Salvador Dalí, a family of Portuguese tourists was taking photos of a giant cricket that had attached itself to a tree. I assumed it was another of Dalí’s odd exhibits but it turned out to be real. Had a plague of these beasts been let loose by the town council in order to add to the surrealism?

The museum itself is built on the site of an old theatre that was bombed during the Spanish Civil War. John Payne, in his book, Catalonia, History and Culture, claims that the funding for the project came from hoarded cash intended for post civil war reconstruction. Back in 1974, the locals were entitled to wonder why a wealthy artist should be granted a considerable sum of public money to build a tribute to himself.

However, there can be little doubt that the town has benefited greatly from the museum in the long run. If the truth be told, Figueres, in spite of its tree-lined Rambla, flanked by elegant Noucentisme (early 20th century Catalan movement) buildings and cafes, is not one of Catalonia’s most beautiful towns. But the museum continues to attract thousands of day-trippers who are unlikely to forget the building in a hurry. Giant eggs perch precariously on the roof while a series of golden women, reminiscent of Oscar statues, raise their arms in various positions as if they are doing safety demonstrations on an aircraft. Clinging to the outer walls of the building are hundreds of identical abstract forms that could be mistaken for drunken yellow turtles lying on their backs or ensaimadas; a type of floury pastry that is common in Eastern areas of Spain. Make of it all what you will.

Once inside, highlights include the courtyard with the extraordinary Rainy Cadillac, an old car with a top heavy woman on the bonnet and an ivy-covered chauffer at the wheel. Some of the titles of the paintings are enough to convey the weird world of Dalí – ‘Bed and Two Bedside Tables Ferociously Attacking a Cello’ or ‘Topological Abduction of Europe’, for instance. After his death in 1989 Dalí was buried in a crypt in the museum. Due to the constant heavy flow of visitors it is hardly a peaceful setting but then Dalí was never one to complain about unwanted publicity.

Yet, he did like to get away from it all. He spent much of his life on the Costa Brava at Cadaqués and nearby Port Lligat. The Costa Brava, north of Roses is wild and rocky and the bay at Port Lligat somehow seems more Atlantic than Mediterranean. This area of the Mediterranean has been able to hold back the tide of development evident further down the coast thanks in part to difficult access along mountainous roads.

I stopped for lunch in Cadaqués where Dalí spent many a childhood holiday. A whitewashed village in a rugged setting still makes for a popular daytrip with the Catalans and French alike. There is a string of busy restaurants along the seafront. Rather than wait for a free table I escaped into the shade of a side street and took one giant leap for mankind with the intriguingly named Neil Armstrong salad in the La Lluna (The Moon) restaurant.

In 1930, Dalí invested in a shack in nearby Port Lligat, just south of the Cap de Creus; mainland Spain’s most easterly point. As war gripped Spain, then Europe, he spent more and more time in the USA before returning to settle in Port Lligat with Gala, his Russian wife and muse, in the late forties. They worked on the house over many years, gradually buying up a series of old fisherman’s huts, and converting them into the thirteen room labyrinth you will find at Port Lligat today. Fortunately, due to constraints of space, visitors to the house are restricted in number. I was able to enjoy a quiet moment reflecting on the view from the workshop on a day when the Empordà gales were whipping up the waves on Dalí’s warm blue horizon. It is at such times that one is able to get a flavour of the other Dalí, the prolific and thoughtful artist, rather than the showman and Spanish eccentric numero uno.

THE DALÍ TRIANGLE

CASA-MUSEU
17488 Port Lligat (Cadaqués)
Tel: +34 972 251 015

TEATRE-MUSEU DALÍ
Plaça Gala-Salvador Dalí, 5 (Entrance fee 10 Euros)
17600 Figueres
Tel: +34 972 67 75 00

EL CASTELL DE PUBOL
Open March-June and Sep-Nov. After the death of Gala in 1982 Dalí moved back to his inland retreat. It is just off just off the C-66 between the Empordà towns of Flaçà and La Bisbal.

www.salvador-Dalí.org

HOTEL DURAN*** C/Lasauca, 5, Figueres 17600 Tel: (0034) 972 50 12 50
This recently renovated 60 room hotel was often frequented by Dalí and friends such as the film director Luis Bunuel, and Gala’s former husband, the French writer Paul Eluard. The hotel restaurant serves typical Catalan cuisine. Double rooms from 80 Euros.

HOTEL S’AGUARDA***, Pge. S’Aguarda, Ctra. Port-Lligat, 30, Cadaqués,
Tel: +34 972 25 80 82, www.hotelsaguarda.com
Swimming pool, solarium, bright open views over the bay of Cadaqués.

LA LLUNA RESTAURANT, Miquel Roset 18, Cadaqués. Tel: +34 972 25 85 96