Everything about the Dali museum is surealism magnified.  Wild stuff, but interesting.



This, however, was not what I would expect to be a work of Dali.   He had very traditional painting skills that you never see elsewhere.


 

Karla and Bonnie told me, “You HAVE to see the Mae West room.”  It was hard to get a good photograph of this because people are lined up to march along the edges of the room before they climb the staircase to see “Mae West”.  And she really IS there…as you look through a blond wig, you see the lips, nose, and eyes/pictures below depicting Mae West’s face.

Only a surrealist would make you stare through a lens between camel legs to see “Mae West’.


Dali must have intended this as a spin-off of the fresco ceiling murals so common throughout Europe.


This is one of the few Dali pieces I was familiar with before coming to the museum–I like the flow of it.


This is Dali’s homage to Velasquez’s  famous “Las Meninas” portrait in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Dali painting the portrait of his Russian wife, Olga, with his own reflection in the painting.


These are photos of Elena, our guide with Educational Tours, on the beach at Tossa del Mar. She is a dynamic person!



From Figueras, we drove for an afternoon at Tossa del Mar, a tiny seaside resort town on the “Costa Brava” south of Barcelona.  You have to drive down a narrow, winding road down a cliff to get there.  Tucked along those cliffs is this little jewel of a town.  Kids enjoyed some beach time here.


A look out tower above the beach area of Tossa del Mar.



Cafes and hotels along the beach at Tossa del Mar.


I would never have guessed it, but this is a statue of Ava Gardner on the hillside fortress area above Tossa del Mar.  Yes, that Ava Gardner….the Hollywood movie star of the ’40’s and ’50’s…one of Frank Sinatra’s “ex’s”.   Apparently, when Hollywood discovered that this was a great filming location, Ava Gardner stayed in Tossa del Mar and brought a great deal of tourism to the town.   And this is their way of saying thanks for the economic prosperity she fostered by promoting their town.



If you stroll up the hill from the beach, you find a beautiful path winding around the lookout towers down to more cliffs along the edge of Tossa del Mar.


Amazingly, a cruise ship coasted right up to the beach to take on passengers.


The remains of a chapel near the towers.


A small island just off shore. High winds and crashing waves that day/


The road we drove down to get here were also along cliffs like these.



 

Marie enjoyed the views of crashing waves more than the beach.


 

View of Tossa del Mar from the hillside.

These towers were sad to be used to guard against pirates sailing in from….where?  France?  Italy?  Not sure, but kids like this area.