Here Dali set up his museum in a theater burned out during the Spanish Civil war. Covered in sculptural renditions of loaves of bread with a large glass dome over the former stage and with huge Dali eggs on the corners, this deep terra cotta red building houses few major and many minor works by the eccentric surrealist master.

Now the third most visited museum in Spain after the Guggenheim Bilbao and Madrid’s Prado, this is where Dali spent the last couple of years of his life being cared for in a tower after suffering major burns in an electrical fire.

Among my favorites are Dali’s earlier works with their limited palate of sienna, blue, black and white. Their subdued tones and exaggerated realism fill me with inspiration.

The museum contains many visual spoofs which combine existing plaster and bronze casts with added color and juxtaposed against stuffed animals, crocodiles, rhinos and octopie among them.

Here also is Dali’s tribute (mockery) of the ceiling of the Cistene Chapel on the ceiling of the once salon of the former theater.

The town of Figueres is a lovely and lively Spanish town complete with it’s own ramblas for the evening paseo. A modern shopping district is here also and as usual I am appalled at the prices and wonder how the average man can clothe himself. But perhaps these stores are only for tourists.

Here at the Bar Barraxitas (dear drunken women) we found a blood sausage that was oh so delicious and which reminded me of the red boudin I ate as a child in Louisiana. We came back for more of the same on a subsequent day, we did, we did.

Upon leaving figures we stopped at the Peralada Golf Club to play a round. Ah, a decadent extravagance. Beautifully situated on a rise overlooking the ancient church of Peralada and the town itself, surrounded by mountains in the distance and open to the sea in the distance on it’s forth side with the blue expanse visible from a few vantage points on the course, the Peralada Golf Club will some day grow into a venerable venue to challenge one’s skill.

Being young, it’s trees and landscaping have not reached full maturity. The rental clubs offered are mismatched and ancient, not the latest bigger than big bertha’s by any stretch of the imagination. The lunch off the snack menu was found to be lacking and costing as much as a full blown meal elsewhere. The wait staff was ample, a total of 4 people waited on us as we waited and waited and waited. Shall I mention that they were disorganized, inefficient and slow? Did I mention that we waited and waited for the wait staff to wait on us?

After an hour plus respite at the turn, it was back to the course which even in it’s youth is challenging in it’s strategic layout. It was also a tad disorienting for these American golfers as the distances posted are of course in meters which made club selection challenging also.

If I have complained too much, forgive me. We did enjoy the course and the golf but would recommend brown bagging it if in a rush.