Cap de Creus


Cap de Creus is a peninsula and a headland located at the far northeast of Catalonia, some south from the French border. The cape lies in the municipal area of Cadaqués, and the nearest large town is Figueres, capital of the Alt Empordà and birthplace of Salvador Dalí. Cap de Creus is the easternmost point of Catalonia and therefore of mainland Spain and the Iberian Peninsula.
The area is now a Natural Park.
The peninsula has an area of of an extraordinary landscape value; a windbeaten very rocky dry region, with almost no trees, in contrast with a seaside rich in minuscule creeks of deep blue sea to anchor. Mountains are the eastern foothills of the Pyrenees, the natural border between France and Spain. The region is frequently swept by awful north wind "tramontana" which has caused many naval disasters. Cadaqués is the most well known village, home of artists and writers, with sophisticated atmosphere, near Port Lligat where Dalí built his home in a paradise small bay. El Port de la Selva, with a little fishing harbour, is less exploited, with good gastronomic resources and pleasant terraces.
Sant Pere de Rodes stands out at of altitude, with views of the Cap and the Pyrenees. It is an 11th-century monastery whose first structures date from about 750 AD.
One legend tells that the Cap de Creus was hewn by Hercules.