Figueres

Most people probably never heard of Figueres.  Those who have know it is where the Salvador Dalí Museum is located.  The Dalí Museum was the reason Manel and I went there many years ago, when we were visiting his sister Pepita on the Costa Brava, before we came to live in Spain.  I don’t like Dalí.  The man may have been a genius, but my overwhelming impression on visiting his museum (that he designed himself) was not that I was seeing art created by a genius but rather, that I was experiencing the manifestation of the world’s biggest ego.

The museum brings lots of tourists to the town.  Not being on the sea, not being a resort, and not having any other major attraction apart from Dalí, Figueres is just the sort of place I was looking for to set up my next home.  A big town/small city that is more or less normal – that is to say not flooded with visitors in July and August and then dead the rest of the year.

I had hoped to move to France once I sold my house, but there were too many legal difficulties and I finally gave up on that dream.  So instead, I focused on Figueres – only about 20 kilometers from the French border -- even though I didn’t really know the place, thinking it was well situated and fitted much of my criteria.  I want to be further north where it is greener.  I already own rain boots and an umbrella.  From Figueres it is easy to visit Girona, Barcelona, or the south of France by train.  Soon it will have high speed train service to Paris (not that I will have enough of a discretionary budget in the future to visit Paris).  The existing train and bus service means I can easily take day outings to places that interest me and won’t have the expense of having to keep a car in the future.  Living in a city means I do can do my daily life by foot.

So this week I drove up to Figueres to see if the reality matched my expectations.  It did.  I found Figueres to be a pretty town, I found excellent restaurants that were not expensive (better and cheaper than anything around here), I found a town with cultural life, and I also found an apartment to make an offer on.  We have not yet signed a contract, so hopefully some good news about that next time.  Tune in next week!