With an early flight to Spain I was in Girona by 9:00. The plan was to check out some of the sights then take a train to Figueres where I was being met for my walk.
Unfortunately they do not have luggage storage at Girona and the distances to the museums were too great for me to manage with my full pack. So I headed straight to Figueres, best known for the Dali gallery/museum.
The museum was only a short walk but it was a relief to hand over my pack and explore the gallery. Dali restored an old, bombed and burnt out theatre to create a home for his works, and those of others which he himself owned. It's a fascinating place, both inside and out. The square outside has large sculptures and the building itself is also adorned with them. The gallery doesn't have an audio guide, and most of the paintings etc are not even labelled, so I felt I was missing a lot. Then at the end, in the shop, I found a wonderful guide to the gallery room by room! They should sell it at the entrance not at the exit. As it happened some of the paintings I most liked weren't by Dali at all, but by Antoni Pixtot who creates images of people using rocks.
Next to the Dali Museu is the church of Saint Pere: a beautiful building. Interestingly though, the original 9th Century church was burned to the ground during the Civil War, then rebuilt in a NeoGothic style by Republican prisoners in the 1940s.
I also visited the Museu Emporda, the local gallery. Entry was free because I had been to the Dali museum. Apart from its normal collection of Romantic, Impressionist and Modern works (which included some beautiful paintings), there were 3 special exhibitions. The first showed pairs of photos taken 30 years apart, from the local area. It was interesting to see how little had changed in the 30 years - most of the buildings were still there, although in some photos it was more built up.
The second was a corridor with digital images being shown on both sides down in -probably about 10 different projections. They were images taken from the internet, and it was disturbing to see the number of 'sexting' style pictures.
The final exhibition was a film about the local gypsies (in Spanish of course!) accompanied by a set of photos taken by a group of young gypsies who were given the cameras by the film maker. An interesting concept. The photos were really good, too.
The desk staff very kindly allowed me to leave my backpack at the museum for the rest of the afternoon so I could wander the town and have some lunch.
At 5 pm I was collected by Catalan Adventures and taken to the starting place of my 7 day walk. They provide me with detailed walking notes, including a map and pictures, and information about the area. My pack gets transported from place to place.
Unfortunately they do not have luggage storage at Girona and the distances to the museums were too great for me to manage with my full pack. So I headed straight to Figueres, best known for the Dali gallery/museum.
The museum was only a short walk but it was a relief to hand over my pack and explore the gallery. Dali restored an old, bombed and burnt out theatre to create a home for his works, and those of others which he himself owned. It's a fascinating place, both inside and out. The square outside has large sculptures and the building itself is also adorned with them. The gallery doesn't have an audio guide, and most of the paintings etc are not even labelled, so I felt I was missing a lot. Then at the end, in the shop, I found a wonderful guide to the gallery room by room! They should sell it at the entrance not at the exit. As it happened some of the paintings I most liked weren't by Dali at all, but by Antoni Pixtot who creates images of people using rocks.
Next to the Dali Museu is the church of Saint Pere: a beautiful building. Interestingly though, the original 9th Century church was burned to the ground during the Civil War, then rebuilt in a NeoGothic style by Republican prisoners in the 1940s.
I also visited the Museu Emporda, the local gallery. Entry was free because I had been to the Dali museum. Apart from its normal collection of Romantic, Impressionist and Modern works (which included some beautiful paintings), there were 3 special exhibitions. The first showed pairs of photos taken 30 years apart, from the local area. It was interesting to see how little had changed in the 30 years - most of the buildings were still there, although in some photos it was more built up.
The second was a corridor with digital images being shown on both sides down in -probably about 10 different projections. They were images taken from the internet, and it was disturbing to see the number of 'sexting' style pictures.
The final exhibition was a film about the local gypsies (in Spanish of course!) accompanied by a set of photos taken by a group of young gypsies who were given the cameras by the film maker. An interesting concept. The photos were really good, too.
The desk staff very kindly allowed me to leave my backpack at the museum for the rest of the afternoon so I could wander the town and have some lunch.
At 5 pm I was collected by Catalan Adventures and taken to the starting place of my 7 day walk. They provide me with detailed walking notes, including a map and pictures, and information about the area. My pack gets transported from place to place.
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