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SATURDAY JANUARY 18 2014
n HILLTOP DRAMA: The village of Begur and, left, the Dali Museum in Figueres
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n MEDIEVAL SETTING: Cardona Parador, on top of Salt Mountain in Catalonia
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It dates back to Roman times and has city walls which have stood for 1,200 years. At its centre is a cathedral with the widest gothic nave in Europe. Stained glass windows date from hundreds of years ago up until modern times. Its most recent addition is a modernist design created in collaboration with Irish artist Sean Scully. Adjoining the cathedral is a former monastery, with a moody cloister, which is now a museum where an 11th century tapestry depicting the creation is its central display. Cobbled laneways, leading off from the plaza in front of the cathedral’s daunting steps, entice the visitor to aimless wanderings and peeks through peeling wooden doorways into courtyards where restaurants, cafes and craft shops nestle. The smaller city of Vic boasts that it is
n Spanish Paradores offer luxury hotel accommodation in castles, palaces, convents, monasteries, fortresses and other historic buildings. The group also has a few modern hotels, built in the traditional style, in areas of outstanding beauty. n Tony Bailie travelled to three Paradores in Catalonia at the invitation of The Spanish Tourist Board and MAP Travel. n MAP Travel in O’Connell Street, Dublin, is the Paradores partner in Ireland and can offer the most competitive rates and advise on what deals are available. Tel 00353 1 878 3111. www.maptravel.ie n Samples rates for the three Paradores are: Cardona from e70 to e100 per person per night Vic-Sau, near Vic, from e64 to e80 per person per night Aiguablava from e70 to e110 per person per night Rates vary depending on the season and include a substantial breakfast. Featured Parador itineraries are: n The Wine Route n The Pilgrim Route (Santiago de Compostela) n The Moorish Route n The Silver Route n The El Cid Route n The Castles Route n The Don Quixote Route n The World Heritage Cities Route
located in the centre of Catalonia. Its main plaza is home to markets on Tuesday and Saturdays – everything from live geese, regional cheeses and religious icons. An architectural clash of facades surround
n HISTORIC: Santa Pau in the Catalan Pyrenees; below left, the Espai Del Peix cookery school
the square, mixing baroque and medieval styles with more functional structures. Vic’s Episcopal Museum has gathered together art and altar pieces from churches and monasteries throughout Catalonia, charting the development of religious art from the Romanesque through to the gothic. There are 2,000 pieces on display and a further 25,000 pieces in storage. For the purposes of dinner party chat, don’t miss the delicatessen Ca la Teresona off the main plaza where you can book a tasting session and create your own Catalan sausage. Most are cured in the open air during the winter months but some are fried up to create another of Catalonia’s signature dishes – butifarra. Back on the coast for an overnight at Aiguablava Parador, set on an outcrop, the sight and sound of the waves crashing on to the rocks below are all the entertainment you need. Nearby is Begur, which works its way from the shore up a hill and has views along the Costa Brava coastline. At its summit sits a castle and around the town itself are a series of defence towers, built to protect
people and their goods from the pirates who used to plunder the coast. Many of Begur’s houses were built in what is known as ‘Indian style’ by merchants who made their fortunes in Cuba and Puerta Rica and who recreated luxury Caribbean villas in their ancestral homeland. Typical is the Casa Pere Roger i Puig, which dates from the 1860s. It was built by a tobacco merchant, with ornate frescos on its internal walls and gardens laid out with palm trees and other tropical plants. Every good dinner party story should end with a surreal twist – literally in this case as mine will tell of a visit to the final resting place and self-designed memorial to the daddy of surrealism, Salvador Dali. The Dali Museum is in Figueres and the entire building is as much an experience as the paintings, sculptures and installations that it houses. It is also a monument to Dali’s muse, Gala, whose image dominates much of his work, often only coming to the fore when you twist your head slightly to the left and squint.