Today’s adventure involved a German rental car, a pilgrimage of sorts, and a road trip to explore the Costa Brava.

We took the metro to Hertz and it took us a bit to get acclimated to our standard shift rental that was initially set to speak German. Between my iPhone and our buddy’s European GPS that we borrowed for the trip, we made our way to the first stop on today’s adventure: Badalona.I guarantee that very few Americans visit Badalona in 2016. But in 1992 as part of the Barcelona Summer Olympics, it was the 13K capacity host arena where the Dream Team played….the first American Olympic team to feature active NBA players, such as Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan. Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley.

After an hour, we reached the city of Girona. It felt like we were in Tuscany or Umbria. Narrow winding stone streets, two beautiful cathedrals, an outdoor antique market (including rotary phones, records, old books, and an original Star Wars puzzle in Spanish) and small shops, all by a small winding river.

Then off to our next stop – an hour through the mountains just miles from the French border. We passed through Figueres, Dali’s hometown where there is a museum and his burial place. The road wound up one side of the mountain, and then back down the other side, offering breathtaking views.

The other side of the mountain from Figueres is Cadaques – a beautiful seaside town with white washed buildings and light terra cotta roofs. 2,000 residents in the off season, but 10x that in the summer. The Mediterranean was clear and still, 100 boats docked in the bay, topless swimmers and people enjoying the rocky beach. 

We enjoyed lunch at Miratim Bar, right on the beach, with the kids eating burgers and patatas bravas, and Paul and I had razor clams in lemon and oil, and Cadaques cockles – very lightly battered clams.

After Paul, D and Miss M swam in the Mediterranean for an hour, we boarded a boat the took us up the coast — in and out of beautiful coves — where we saw Dali’s house, and the three of them jumped off the boat when it docked briefly to cool off from the hot sun. 

We spent the evening strolling around the narrow streets and walkways of Cadaques, enjoying the scenery, people watching, and stopping for dinner seaside. We couldn’t get enough of the views, as the sun set, the buildings took a golden hue. And as night fell, lights decorated the white buildings making them glisten as the moon rose over the mountain.

It’s currently 11pm and according to the GPS we’ll be back in Barcelona by 12:45am. We have the rental car until 9:30am, so plenty of time to squeeze in one more adventure…