Begur, Catalunya
Yesterday evening brought us one of those chance adventures that we so love about travelling. We left the hotel about 6, thinking to go see if the town library and archives were open. Along the way, we passed the ayuntamiento (city hall), which Jerome remembered being recommended as an interesting faux-Indiano building. The patio gate was open, and the front door ajar, so we went in. All the offices were closed, but we could see that the foyer and staircase were indeed in the Indiano style. A fellow came in behind us, and we hastened to assure him that we were just looking around at the Indiano influence, and he invited us upstairs to see more. As we chatted lightly about the building, I asked him if he was from Begur, and he said yes, then modestly admitted to being the mayor. Well, what followed was a delightful tour of the building (constructed by the son of an Indiano but not the Indiano emigre himself) and a lengthy discussion of the history of Begur, its Indianos, and other interesting Indiano towns nearby, including the port from which they sailed to Cuba, ten miles down the coast.
Begur's 19th-century economic base was fishing and wine production. Phylloxera wiped out the vineyards late in the century and left the town devastated. Five families set sail to seek a living in Cuba, and in a classic case of chain migration, half the town eventually followed. Sugar, tobacco, textiles, cork, grocery stores, bakeries, and general business made them wealthy, and they returned to Begur to build their mansions and contribute to the town. Fourteen Indiano homes still stand, and are still in private hands. We learned that a major difference between Catalunya's Indianos and those of Asturias is that the latter's ostentation was outward, in the magnificent exteriors and gardens that we saw last year there, while here in Catalunya the richness is inside the mansions (and we have seen some amazing photos of interiors).
We saw a third and fourth defensive tower today, and learned that there were eleven total in Begur for 16th-century protection from the pirates. Only six remain, two of them hidden within private grounds.
This morning we tried again to visit the archives, only to be told to come back tomorrow. Wednesday is market day in Begur, so the plazas around the church were full of stalls of clothing on one side and, on the other, of gorgeous vegetables. It was a very windy but beautiful morning, and we decided to go see the port whence sailed the Begurianos to Cuba. San Feliu de Guixols is today a tourist town, but the harbor is still beautiful, and historic plaques give a sense of the history of the port. The town's medieval monastery houses an art museum: The current exhibit is "D'Urgell a O'Keeffe". Urgell (1839-1919) was a neo-Romantic Catalunyan painter who knew Courbet and taught Miro. O'Keeffe is, well, our own Georgia (1887-1986). The show tracks the "evolution of the representation of the city from Romanticism to the Avant-Garde", with Barcelona, Paris, and New York being the cities represented. Not bad for a little beach town on the edge of Spain.
Back to Begur for a light lunch and, for me, a visit to a physical therapist to try to undo some of the knots in my back. I'm feeling much better, and we are planning our next moves. Photos from tapas last night to San Feliu today are athttps://goo.gl/photos/EsP78RUANha2d6PaA
