Portlligat Bay from the Casa Museo Dalí roof, in Cadaqués

Portlligat (also written as Port Lligat) also houses one of the Dalí Museums. This was Dalí home since he bought it in the 30′s, when he returned from New York. In fact he acquired several fishermen houses and, with the help of some architects, he managed to fusion them through new walls and passages. A visit to this museum gives a good account of the so special configuration that has this original dalinian place. Before becoming a museum, while Dalí and his wife Gala lived in the house, great and famous stars as Federico Garcia Lorca, Picasso or Walt Disney visited it. The genial painter was always very fond of this landscape, so much that on several occasions he stated that it was “the most beautiful in the world”.

Portlligat, in the middle of Cap de Creus, is a beautiful bay surrounded by woods

The island is about a mile long from Portlligat shore and is a very typical well recognised landscape of this bay. It was for the fishermen in the area of major importance for protection as a shelter against storms. Currently on the island you’ll only find some vegetation and some trees, although we know that in the past, as in Portlligat, there were some houses with residents, including the village postman, so that it was also known as Mail Island.

Panoramic view of Portlligat, shot from its northern side

If you to go swimming to reach the island from the creek you’ll find that the distance is too long, but if you start from the south of the bay, which we access through the coastal path to Ses Boquelles and Playa d’en Ton, the distance is shortened to only 60 meters.

Boats in Portlligat, Cadaqués, Costa Brava, Spain

Portlligat is part of Cadaqués, so that in fact it’s not a village itself. It is formed by a few white houses of former fishermen (most of them residential homes now) and half a dozen traditional paved streets, some with ladders. It will draw your attention the spatial arrangement of these homes and the fact that the chimneys are topped by a pyramid, an old technique to prevent the north wind, the Tramuntana, to snuff out their fireplaces.

Portlligat beach is frequently a place for fishermen boats to rest

Portlligat beach, on the other hand, is about 80 meters long and barely 10 meters wide. Since the creek is so small and there are many boats, the truth is that Portlligat is not one of the most attractive coves to bath, compared with others in Cadaqués that even have blue flag. So, it has bins, but no showers. Now the disabled access is fully conditioned, especially considering those who visit the museum.

Dalí Museum entrance, located in the right side of Portlligat Bay, and very visited by tourists

Another point of interest is the Ermita de Sant Baldiri (church), from 1702, which is at the top of the creek, near the cemetery.

Cala Culip, in the middle of the Cap de Creus, near Cadaqués, Costa Brava, Spain

The recovery of this unique landscape has taken years of demolition of the 400 apartments built during the spanish Franco dictator era, when the Cap de Creus had no legal protection status, and it could not be defended from predator urbanism. This has been the largest demolition project conducted by a country on the Mediterranean coast. And finally you can visit the reopened terrain of 4,5 hectares to enjoy coves of impressive beauty.

One of the most interesting creeks in the area is Cala Culip which, until the departure of Club Med, incredible as it may seem, could only be visited by you through a “visitor pass” issued by the Club. It’s just a few kilometers from the Cap de Creus lighthouse it has one of the few beaches in the area where you can anchor if you come by boat. From ancient times many tried to anchor, although some eventually finished sinking when the Tramuntuna north wind was so strong that they were pushed onto the rocks.

Geological rock shapes we observe in Pla de Tudela are really surprising

Therefore Cala Culip is a known place of shipwrecks (delericts) from ancient Rome and Greece, many of which have already been investigated. The geological landscape of this cove is truly breathtaking and the pictures show the capricious ways that the erosion of wind and water have given these rocks.

Another beautiful example that water and wind effects have made into Pla de Tudela landscape

Opposite the creek rises, imposing, the Culleró island, made of geological forms as original and surprising as those surrounding the island.

Cala Culip waters are clean, blue even almost transparent

The Pla de Tudela and Cala Culip are surely some of the most unknown and hidden places of the Costa Brava, and their ravishing beauty will make your visit an unforgettable experience.

Cala Culip has a little beach with sand where you can sunbath

Cap de Creus Lighthouse

The Cap de Creus Park is very large and includes villages as Cadaqués, Vilajuïga, Palau-saverdera, El Port de la Selva, Llançà, Pau, Roses and la Selva de Mar.

Typical rocky raw landscape in Cap de Creus

The landscapes of Cap de Creus are hard to forget. Much of the year the cape is hit by winds from the north (the Tramuntana one), and the environmental contamination is negligible due to low human occupation. The erosion caused by the wind and sea salt have created a landscape of rounded rocks that form this particular physiognomy.

The rocky coast, composed mainly of shale, is spread throughout the place, forming small bays and coves, some very small, only accessible by sea. In the imagination of the people some of the rocks that make up this coast are associated with animal forms, like the eagle of Tudela, Cap Gros lion or the rock of the Cullera island, which probably inspired Dalí in the conception of its great work, The Great Masturbator.

All the Cap de Creus is full of magnificient bays

The waters are crystal blue, and his underwater contains a nice collection of animal species, 300. Stresses including Babau turtle or leatherback turtle, of large dimensions.

Cap de Creus Lighthouse, located just in the middle of the rocky landscape

The park, in turn, has an interesting architectural heritage, composed mainly of the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes and archaeological sites. Special mention should be the lighthouse of Cap de Creus: on the first time in 1853, had a range of 15 miles. Even today retains its functionality, and the esplanade in which is situated is an excellent vantage point where many visitors end their tour of the Natural Park watching the cliffs on which it is situated and in the north, the French coast.