Cadaqués, Girona counties, Catalonia, Spain

Cadaqués is a municipality in the Alt Empordà, on the coast of Cap de Creus. The old town forms a protected historical ensemble as a cultural asset of national interest. For many years before, Cadaqués was already the place chosen to spend short or long seasons of tranquility by many artists and intellectuals who gave it great prestige and renown, especially in the circles of painters and visual artists.

CadaquésMunicipality of the Alt Empordà region, located on the eastern side of the Cap de Creus Peninsula. The fact that Cadaqués is in the middle of these rocky massifs in contact with the sea, meant that the town was practically isolated from the rest of the continent until the end of the 19th century. where its only exit was the sea. The first documents that mention Cadaqués date from around the year 1000. From the old fortified town there is a Baluard, which currently houses the City Council facilities, and a portal of ‘lowered arch overlooking the beach.

At the highest point of the old town is the Church of Santa Maria. It is a late Gothic building, begun in the mid-16th century and finished in the 18th century. Inside we find a prodigious baroque wooden altarpiece made in 1725 and gilded in 1788, designed by Jacint Moretó and made by Pau Costa. Cadaqués’ relationship with art is established through the painter Salvador Dalí, who, although born in Figueres, was linked to the neighboring bay of Portlligat where, in the 1940s, his curious residence was built.

It is the easternmost town in Catalonia (also in the Iberian Peninsula ) and the Alt Empordà. The municipality occupies most of the east coast of the peninsula of Cap de Creus. Isolated by the Pení mountains from the rest of the Alt Empordà, Cadaqués lived facing the sea and practically separated (by land) from the rest of the region until the end of the 19th century. It is a village where we can find little lepidolite.

The municipality of Cadaqués extends to the eastern end of the Cap de Creus peninsula, the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, on land irregularly cut by the final slopes of the Sierra de Prades, which on reaching the sea, they form a very rugged coastline, with small beaches.

A series of geological, architectural and environmental elements make up the characteristic image of Cadaqués: the gray slate, the olive trees and the green scrub, the terraces made with dry walls of great perfection that climb to the ridges and, above all, the white houses. The town of Cadaqués, located at the bottom of the bay of the same name, is facing the sea and isolated from the interior by the mountain of the Pení and the Puig dels Bufadors, which encircle the territory. From es Baluard, the town opens on both sides, forming two large curves over the bay, followed by the shore. These sectors, to the west (from the middle of the Llané Gran) and to the east (to the back of the houses on Carrer de Colom) of the old town, are, together with this, also included in the scope of the set. historical.

The old town, which was walled (the portal is still preserved, whitewashed), occupies a rocky hill at the top of which rises the characteristic and white church of Santa Maria, and extends to the sea level, to the cove of the Llané Gran. A series of narrow, steep streets and alleys, paved with slabs and slate pebbles, and collected squares form the architectural ensemble of the old town of Cadaqués.

History
In 1030, among others, the port of Cadaqués is documented. Later, the castle and town of Cadaqués and, in 1279, the church are often documented. Initially it was a condominium of the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes and the county of Empúries. Its inhabitants, fishermen, enjoyed the privilege of the counts of Empúries to form a host or cavalcade only for actions originating in the sea or from the sea. Until 1403, its council or university was the gathering of all the neighbors in the square or in the church; from this date, King Martí l’Humà ordered the town to be governed by twelve freely chosen nobles.

In 1280, Count Ponç V confirmed to the people of Cadaqués the privileges granted by his predecessors, which compensated them in some way for the servitudes derived from the fortified condition of the Castle and Town of Cadaqués, according to which its inhabitants could only be summoned to form part of a host or cavalcade by actions originating by sea or at sea.

In 1403 King Martí l’Humà ordered the town to be governed by twelve freely chosen nobles (until then the council or university met in the square or church formed by the general assembly of all the residents). The first mentions of the parish are from 1279 (“ecclesia de Cadaques”) and 1280 (“de Quadaqueris”).

In the 15th century, during the war against John II, the town was handed over to the royal troops and then recovered by the Generalitat. During the 14th and 15th centuries, and especially during the 16th century, Cadaqués was repeatedly attacked by corsairs (in 1444, the town archive was burned and, in 1543, the church and the whole town ); to protect themselves from piracy, defense towers were built. In 1655, at the end of the War of the Reapers, Cadaqués surrendered to the French.

Between the 13th and 16th centuries, the town of Cadaqués was formed inside the old castle. Of this primitive enclosure one of the entrance portals is conserved, well-known like Portal that leads through the street of the Call to high hill, where is the church of Santa Maria. The Torre de sa fusta es Baluard is also standing, where the current house of the town is located. In the same way, many of the current walls of the houses of Punta d’es Baluard are formed by the remains of this ancient wall.

The great interest to the town are two episodes from the end of the Crusade against Catalonia that are included in the great chronicles. According to Muntaner, the leading man or consul of Cadaqués called Gras and two of his nephews played a decisive role in the defeat of the French squadron of Guillem de Lodeva in the Gulf of Roses; Gras organized a discreet espionage to warn of the concentration of French forces in the Bay of Roses. According to Desclot, it was in the bay of Cadaqués where, during the talks between Roger de Lloria and the count of Foix, the king of France’s delegate to establish peace, the great admiral said the well-known words: “Mas no creu that no fish can rise on the sea if it does not carry a shield with signal of the king of Aragon in the tail… ”. In the war against Joan II the town was given (1470) by Joan Sequeres to the forces of the king, and a few months later it was reconquered by those of the Generalitat.

After the frequent attacks of the Genoese corsairs, throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the policy of the Trastamara to break hostilities with the Muslim world began a long period of disasters of Saracen piracy: in 1444 the archive was completely destroyed. the villa. These raids were especially severe and followed in the following century; in 1543, 20 galleys and 5 woods of the pirate Barba-rossa plundered and burned the town and the old church. The defensive measures were not enough (at Cap de Creus a defense tower was built, which is not preserved, parallel to that of Cap de Norfeu, paid in part by the Barcelona council) and the decline continued.

From the seventeenth century there is another period marked by the first settlements outside the walls, following the lines of the coast. In 1683 the shore of Port Alghero was builtand the projecting porches of the first two houses built on top of it, to serve the port. In this way Port-Doguer became the first suburb formed on the outside of the Castle wall. After 1714, along with the end of the wars, and past the constant danger of corsairs and pirates, houses outside walls began to reproduce more rapidly. After the liberalization of trade with America, thanks to the treaty of 1778, there was a certain rebirth of Cadaqués. At this time, the traditional type of construction is marked by the purity and simplicity of the vaulted porches and the solid whitewashed walls.

Epidemics and wars they continued to harm the population throughout the seventeenth century. In 1655, during the final stage of the Reapers’ War, Cadaqués surrendered to the French, and often European squadrons anchored in the bay (in 1674, for example, there was a strong French squadron almost all year round). It has an extraordinary interest for the knowledge of the activity of the fishermen, basic in the economy of the population, the Book of ordinances of the fishery, conserved in the parochial file; it begins in 1532, but picks up the much older uses and customs that governed the practice of fishing, of an accentuated collectivism.

The eighteenth century marked an economic recovery, with the intensification of the cultivation of the vineyard and the production of brandy, the traditional fishing of coral and, above all, the freedom of trade with America, which favored the development of navigation height. Coral work is an activity that has come down to very recent times; it had a moment of great splendor at the end of the 19th century, when a strong company was created that hired Greek divers who traced the entire Altemporda coast (such as the Kóntos lineage). The smuggling activity has been favored by the isolation of the population and the skill of the fishermen. An important figure of this period was the military engineer Joan d’Escofet i Palau (1720-1810), who stood out in the Great War.

The splendor of navigation took place mainly throughout the 19th century, and the captains, pilots and sailors of Cadaqués played an important role in the nineteenth-century Catalan navy; these navigators were a source of basic wealth for the village. According to Madoz (1846), the port was the head of the maritime district and had customs (already mentioned by Zamora). On the other hand, Cadaqués remained strong on the margins of the wars against Napoleon and the Carlists. The Restoration marked great prosperity.

The last remarkable moment of the urban evolution of Cadaqués takes place at the end of the millennium, during the 19th and 20th centuries. It is at this time that construction of all types of buildings begins on the shores, not only those related to port services. This boom is due to the population growth that the area suffered, reaching its peak in the 1860s, thanks to the exploitation of the cultivation of the vineyard and the export of Grenache, which adds to the fishing activity.. Later, the year 1880 was marked by phylloxera and the demographic decline that it indirectly caused. This trend did not change until the arrival of tourism in the 1960s.

Thanks to the opening of the road at the beginning of the century, the isolation of the village was broken and it caused transformations, both inside the town and on the banks, where it continued to be built. Finally, in the sixties, coinciding with the tourism boom, it meant that many members of the Catalan bourgeoisie, as well as foreigners attracted by the charm of a developing country, settled their second homes there. Within this group also gathered a group of intellectuals who wanted to preserve features of folklore and traditional architecture, without renouncing architectural modernity, making it fully compatible.

Economy
Subsistence activities were mainly fishing and vineyards. The latter enriched the region in the eighteenth century, but also ruined it when the phylloxera plague arrived in the late nineteenth century. This fact notoriously drove migration to America. However, the isolation of the village also became a factor of prosperity: at the beginning of the twentieth century tourists began to arrive who were scattered among the different areas of easier access. Meanwhile, they ignored the most remote places and, as a result, preserved their urban ecology.

The old forests were cut down already at the time of the dominion of Sant Pere de Rodes, a great amount of wood in the ignited fishing was consumed and the communal forests were disappearing; rainwater skinned the land, and the system of dry-walled beams saved the country from total land degradation. The vineyards reached the highest places in the mountains and the production of wine and Grenache allowed exports to Italy, France, the rest of Spain and, since the freedom of trade with America, also to this continent. The golden age of the vineyard coincided, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with that of navigation, and the years of maximum economic wealth of the population were those of the second half of the nineteenth century, when phylloxera had ruined. the French vineyards and had not yet reached our lands.

The death of the vines (1880) was a terrible misfortune, and a considerable part of the term remained barren; the lower slopes close to the population were planted with olive trees, and their cultivation, despite the damage caused by the frosts of 1956, occupies more than 80% of the cultivated land. An oil mill or mill supplies local consumption. There are small expanses of vineyards and orchards around the village.

The fishing activity – basic in the history of the town – has lost all its importance before the increasing function of residential and tourist place. There are a few boats left in the fishing port of the town: Portlligat. The traditional production of anchovies is maintained at home and for local consumption. Most of Cadaqués’ industry is made up of construction companies, an activity that brought together 25.4% of the employed population in 2001; they follow those of feeding, wood and metal in smaller number. The services sector, to which 65.4% of the employed population was engaged, is the most important thanks to tourism.

Tourism
To know the history of Cadaqués it is essential to visit the old town and get lost in its labyrinthine streets. The town of medieval origin and surrounded by a great wall occupied the space of what is today the historic center of Cadaqués. At present, only an old bastion that was part of the wall and is now part of the City Council has been preserved. Walking through the old town the traveler can step on the old pavement of the village, the rake. This type of pavement is made of stones extracted from the sea shore that have been shaped by the oscillation of the waves. The narrow Carrer des Call is the one that preserves the genuine rake pavement of the village in the best condition. It takes the form of a spike and aims to absorb water and prevent people from slipping.

The church of Santa María is the parish church of Cadaqués. It was built in the 17th century in the center of the town, at the highest point of the old town, surrounded by the narrow streets that give Cadaqués its special charm. It is in the Gothic style and on its facade, all of it painted white, the bell tower stands out, with a square base and an octagonal upper part. Its baroque-style altarpiece is a must. It is also known for hosting the Cadaqués International Music Festival.

The highest point of the old town is where the church of Santa Maria de Cadaqués is located. From here we have a beautiful panoramic view of the town, the bay of Cadaqués, Es Cucurucuc and even the small lighthouse of Cala Nans. The temple was started in the mid-16th century and is largely of late Gothic style. The part of the nave closest to the frontispiece dates from the 17th century (1634-1640) and the so-called Fonda chapel dates from the 17th-19th centuries. In the frontispiece there is a round-pointed arched door and a rose window. The old church was destroyed by the famous Turkish pirate Barbarossa, who besieged the town in 1543. After these events it was decided that the new temple would be made with the money of fishermen who went out to sea on forbidden days, fact that we see reflected in these verses of Frederic Rahola and Trémols:

Inside the church there is a splendid 23m high baroque altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin of Hope, one of the most interesting baroque altarpieces of the Vic school. The work was designed by Jacint Moretó and made by the sculptors Pau Costa and Joan Torres. During the Spanish War, in 1938, a partition was built in front of the altar to protect it and the rest of the church was used to house prisoners of war. The interior decoration of the church is completed with 9 more gilded wooden altarpieces and smaller sizes. Another work of great heritage value is the Cadaqués organ which was made by Josep Boscà between 1689 and 1691 and is considered one of the oldest organs in Catalonia.

Emblematic buildings
In Cadaqués there is a great diversity of buildings with very different architectural styles that are closely intertwined with the history of the town. Needless to say, modernism is one of the most striking styles, both for its beauty and its originality. Most modernist buildings are located in front of the promenade and were built by people from Cadaqués who became rich during their stay in America. As a peculiarity we must add that some of these houses are really unique, as they are inspired by Cuban architecture, which is observed in the richness of bright colors and the showiness of the materials used.

House of Don Octavi Serinyana or Blue House:
Riba des Poal. C / des Poal, s / n modernist style early period selge XX beginning (1913-15). Author: Salvador Sellés i Baró.

Serinyana Charity Public School:
Donated by the Serinyana family, to spread education, 1915. Modernist style c / Sol de l’Engirol.

Casa Frederic i Victor Rahola:
Modernist building, located in Frederic Rahola Square at number 6

La torre del colom:
Modernist style building built in the early twentieth century. Located on Avenida Víctor Rahola. The castle or tower was destroyed during the Reapers’ War. A wheat mill was later built there, which disappeared. When Mr. Gabriel Colom bought the property called “del Castell”, it lost its old name to be called the tower or castle of El Colom.

Parish church of Sta. Maria:
Church square. The temple was started in the middle of the 16th century, it is largely of late Gothic style. The part of the nave closest to the frontispiece dates from the 17th century (1634-1640) and the so-called Fonda chapel dates from the 17th-19th centuries. In the frontispiece there is a round-pointed arched door and a rose window. The old church was destroyed by the famous Turkish pirate Barbarossa who besieged the town in 1543. After these events it was decided that the new temple would be made with the money of fishermen who went out to sea on forbidden days. Inside the church there is a splendid baroque altarpiece 23m high dedicated to the Virgin of Hope.

Casino de l’Amistat:
Former charity La Benèfica, founded in the late nineteenth century. 1870 neoclassical.

Ermita de Sant Baldiri:
Baroque temple from 1702 located next to the current cemetery, between the center of Cadaqués and the cove of Portlligat. It used to be dedicated to Saints Abdó and Senent, whose remains, according to tradition, were saved by the people of Cadaqués after a shipwreck in Portlligat.

Oratory of St. Pius V:
Latin cross shrine crowned by a dome. Built by the inhabitants of the village to pay homage to Pope Pius V for the defeat of the Turkish pirates during the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, in which almost 280 ships and 30,000 men went to meet the Turkish navy. The Christian ships, led by John of Austria, destroyed the aforementioned army. Pius V was elected Pope in 1566 and remained until his death in 1572. With the help of Louis de Requesens he defended ecclesiastical freedom against the intervention of kings. The people of Cadaqués felt free from the attacks of the Turkish pirates and in gratitude built an oratory where, later, it was the irrigation of “Santpioquint” next to a fountain, to honor his memory. After so many years, when it was well preserved, it still received visits,

Nans cove lighthouse:
Small building in the shape of a cylindrical and white tower. Located on the southern edge of the port of Cadaqués, it entered service in 1864. It is still in operation today. The lighthouse has a small jetty. In the late 1930s it was uninhabited.

Cap de Creus lighthouse:
Located at the eastern end of the peninsula. Considered the second oldest lighthouse in Catalonia, it entered service in 1853. In addition to continuing to serve sailors, today it is the headquarters of the Cap de Creus space, which is an information point for the Cap de Creus Natural Park. Creus.

Tower of the Crosses:
Old watchtower, square structure, with ground floor and first floor. It was probably built during the 17th century and destroyed and rebuilt in later times. It appears to have had surveillance and signaling functions. During the Carlist wars, women and children took refuge there. It is currently in ruins.

Culture
The village, located in the bay of the same name, is presided over by the church of Santa Maria, which contains a remarkable Baroque altarpiece.

When he returned from New York, Salvador Dalí settled in Portlligat, a natural port in the municipality. His presence brought such prominent figures as García Lorca, Picasso and Walt Disney. French artist Marcel Duchamp has been living there since the summers since 1958 and his presence playing chess at the Melitón bar is well known. Richard Hamilton, promoter of Pop Art, English and follower of Duchamp, also frequented Cadaqués and exhibited several times at the Galeria Cadaqués created by the architect and gallery owner Lanfranco Bombelli.

Many other artists have been seduced by Cadaqués: Eliseu Meifrè, Albert Ràfols-Casamada, Roca-Sastre, Àngel Planells (son of Cadaqués), Tharrats, Eduard Arranz Bravo, Norman Foster, Ramon Aguilar Moré, Marc Aleu, Jordi Curós, Benguel, Rafael Bartolozzi, Shigeyoshi Koyama, Ramon Moscardó, Josep Moscardó, Francesc Todó, Josep Cruañas, Maria Girona,Isabel Garriga, Josep Rovira, Antoni Pitxot, Maurice Boitel, writers like André Breton, like Josep Elias and many others, as well as numerous people linked to the world of the arts.

Museums
For those who wish to know the cultural offer of Cadaqués, it is recommended to visit the Municipal Museum of the town, the House Museum of Salvador Dalí and the Espai Cap de Creus.

Cadaqués Museum
The Cadaqués Museum is dedicated to artists and pictorial themes that have had or are related to the town and its history. Throughout the year, various temporary exhibitions are offered so that the visitor can get to know the culture of Cadaqués more closely. Notable among all the exhibitions are those dedicated to the Empordà genius Salvador Dalí and which deal with the biography of the painter and his work. The exhibitions are as diverse as the personality of the genius itself and this is precisely where the success of this museum lies, which never ceases to amaze its visitors.

The Cadaqués Museum has an important collection of works by artists who have been linked to Cadaqués in some way, either because they have been inspired by it, have lived there, worked there or have a special love for it. Thus, artists such as: Arranz Bravo, Salvador Dalí, Richard Hamilton, Ignacio Iturria, Eliseu Meifren, Josep Niebla, Carlos Pazos, Antoni Pitxot, Àngel Planells, Joan Josep Tharrats stand out…

House Museum Salvador Dalí
The Salvador Dalí House Museum is one of the most visited places in Cadaqués, considered an essential visit to discover the universe of the painter. It is located in the bay of Portlligat, to the north of the town, surrounded by the beautiful landscape that captivated the artist. It is made up of a group of fishermen’s huts that were acquired by the painter and his wife, Gala, giving it a labyrinthine shape. It was opened to the public in 1997 and inside there are memories of the painter, his workshop, the library, his rooms, the garden area and the pool.

The current Portlligat House-Museum (Cadaqués) was the only stable house of Salvador Dalí, the place where he lived and worked regularly until in 1982, with the death of Gala, he established his residence in the Castle of Púbol. In 1930 Dalí settled in a small fishing hut in Portlligat attracted by the landscape, the light and the isolation of the place. From this initial construction, for forty years he was creating his house. As he defined it, it was “like a true biological structure… Each new impulse of our life corresponded to a new cell, a chamber.”

Espai Cap de Creus
The Espai Cap de Creus which is located inside the lighthouse of Cap de Creus, which dates from 1853 and is considered the second oldest lighthouse. of Catalonia. The Espai Cap de Creus is a space for scientific dissemination that explains the geological, plant and animal evolution of this environment. The geological beauty of Cap de Creus fascinates with the uniqueness of shapes that we can observe in both rocks and plants. In addition, the strong north wind and the sea are the main agents that have shaped this area. In short, walking through the Cap de Creus Natural Park is a spectacle of millions of years of evolution, a spectacle that no one can miss.

Art galleries
The attraction that Cadaqués has exerted on many painters is well-known, becoming the inspiring element of his works. Ramon Pichot, Pablo Picasso, Eliseu Meifren, Marcel Duchamp and Salvador Dalí are just a few examples. This attraction still persists and this has led artists from all over the world to settle permanently in Cadaqués to exhibit their artistic talent. Sculpture, painting and photography are the majority arts that can be found in the different art galleries.

The artists of Cadaqués form an important community and come together under the same common denominator: artistic creation. Today, art galleries are another of the attractions of Cadaqués, so visiting these spaces is highly recommended because here the traveler can see the inexhaustible source of inspiration in the town.

Sculptures
In Cadaqués there are a total of eight sculptures distributed throughout the municipality. These are a tribute to the most outstanding artists and intellectuals who have lived there or passed through the municipality. The fact that the works are scattered throughout Cadaqués allows visitors to get to know the town hand in hand. In short, these are sculptures with a remarkable artistic value that only deserve to be visited for their beauty.

The sculptures are:
Salvador Dalí, bronze. Work made by the sculptor Ros Sabaté in 1972 and donated by Captain John Peter Moore, former secretary of the great artist. Location: Cadaqués promenade.
The four winds of the sea is the work of the artist François Sthaly, located on Ses Oliveres Beach.
The boat and the cypress of the artist Salvador Dalí located on the beach of Port-Lligat.
Freedom, bronze. Dalinian-inspired sculpture made by the artist Bartholdi in 1994. Gift from Captain Moore in the town of Cadaqués. Location: Entrance to the village.
A Rosa Leveroni work by the artist Emília Xargay. Location: Portlligat Bay.
To Federico García Lorca by the artist JM Subirachs on the Llané beach.
Girl, marble. Of the modernist sculptor Josep Llimona, located in the municipal cemetery of Cadaqués.
Lidia de Cadaqués, bronze. Work by the artist Ramon Moscardó that can be found on both the Pitxot bank and Avinguda Víctor Rahola.

Cap de Creus Natural Park:
Cap de Creus is the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Alto Ampurdán region, Gerona province. It has been declared a natural park since 1998, being the only one in Spain with two zones, the maritime and the terrestrial, and considered the largest uninhabited area on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Its area is around 14,000 hectares, of which 11,000 are terrestrial and 3,000 are marine. The land area extends through the towns of Cadaqués, Llansá, Palau Sabardera, Pau, Puerto de la Selva, Rosas, Selva de Mar and Vilajuïga.

The natural park begins in Bol Nou, municipality of Puerto de la Selva, and ends at the tip of Falconera, before Rosas. Numerous protected species of plants and animals unique in the world inhabit the entire park. Its coastline of great scenic value, with impressive cliffs, hidden coves and small islands, is known by divers as an underwater paradise for its spectacular underwater wealth. At the tip of Cabo de Creus is the mythical Creus Lighthouse (Cadaqués municipality), where the film The Light of the End of the World was filmed and where there is currently a Geology museum and a Tourist office where it is facilitated the information for walking tours in the natural park territory.

Events and festivals
Throughout the year many festivals are held in Cadaqués, some of which are really special such as the gathering of the rising sun that is celebrated on January 1. The meeting point of this celebration is at the lighthouse of Cap de Creus, where people from all over the world gather. This place is located in the easternmost part of the peninsula, so it is where the sun rises first. At 7 in the morning everyone prepares to be the first to see the sun rise. Then, the party is enlivened with a dance while villagers serve free, among the attendees, hot chocolate.

Also noteworthy is the festival of San Sebastián, which is celebrated on January 20 and brings together all the people of the town. The people of Cadaqués go on foot from the village to the hermitage of San Sebastián, which is located on top of a mountain, on the slopes of Pení. The ascent lasts about 2 h. Once there, a Mass is celebrated in honor of the saint. Then sardanas and patacadas are danced and it is lunch in the open air, each one brings his food. By the way, the hermitage is privately owned and only opens once a year. It is worth mentioning that, for centuries, rain or snow, the inhabitants of Cadaqués have walked up to the hermitage. Thus, it is a festival deeply rooted in the traditions of Cadaqués that has been preserved from parents to children.

During the month of February, the carnival. Takes place with the parade of costumes and floats in front of the sea. Unlike other towns on the coast, the Cadaqués carnival is very familiar as many locals take part. The cultural week is celebrated in Aprilwhich offers a wide range of cultural activities aimed at all ages. Among them are the literary awards that take place during this week. All events are included in the week of April 23 which coincides with St. George’s Day.

In May, the day of the Tribute to old age is celebrated and, at the beginning of June, the popular fair of the Indians << An American in Cadaqués >> is celebrated in memory of all those of Cadaqués that went to make the Americas. In addition, for art lovers there is the painting fair which lasts three months in summer and takes place every Saturday.

Another important event is the procession of the Virgin of Carmen by boat that takes place every July 16th. During these festivities, regattas and Latin sailing races are organized.

In August, such important activities take place as the Cadaqués International Music Festival, which has been held every summer since 1970. The Cadaqués International Music Festival is one of the most important and representative events of the population. It serves as a meeting point for famous musicians, soloists, conductors and composers. It is part of the recent history of Cadaqués and, until its reformulation in 2008, it was structured in classical music concerts inside the church and free concerts distributed throughout various parts of the town where musical varieties could be heard. The festival offers a wide variety of concerts with very diverse musical styles; it is very innovative and like every year it attracts a lot of people. Also noteworthy is the cycle of organ concerts in Catalonia that takes place in the incomparable setting of the church of St. Maria de Cadaqués. As a final touch that closes the month is the meeting of Latin sailing boats that has a great impact on the village.

In September there is the summer festival that usually coincides with the week of Catalonia Day which takes place on the 11th of this month. During the festival, the popular jet race takes place, a kind of green pitcher that is placed on the head, in addition to the Catalan llagut rowing regatta, the singing of habaneras, the Marnatón, sea crossing between Cap de Creus and the bay of Cadaqués (www.marnaton.com) and a long and so on. For the occasion also take to the streets Abdon and Lydia, the giants of Cadaqués, designed by Angel Nadal and built in 1991.

Finally, on December 18 the whole town celebrates the winter festival in honor of the Virgin of Hope, patron saint of Cadaqués.