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Travel: A place to see and be seen

Once a backwater home to artists, Tossa de Mar was ‘discovered’ by Ava Gardner
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Amazing what even a dud of a movie can do for a place. Until 1950, when "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" was filmed in Tossa de Mar on Spain's Costa Brava, the coastal village had long been a quiet backwater favoured by artists.

The arrival of film star Ava Gardner (her "breathtaking beauty" was the movie's sole attribute, says a critic) changed all that. Much taken with Tossa, Gardner introduced it to then-husband Frank Sinatra and other Hollywood friends, and this became a place to see and be seen.

More than a half a century later Tossa de Mar remains a town of artists, as well as a year-round destination for a legion of visitors attracted to its historic ambiance, fine beaches, bar-filled byways and waterfront restaurants.

The Costa Brava begins just south of Tossa at Blanes, an hour's drive north of Barcelona, and continues all the way north to France. While some of its several dozen seaside villages are touristy, this rugged coast remains one of dense forest, rocky headlands and sweeping coves, some with beaches and deep blue Mediterranean waters.

You can drive, hike and cycle the length of the Costa Brava, or follow an inland highway from Barcelona to the central city of Girona and town of Figueres, where a museum devoted to Salvador Dali is a major attraction. Travelling by train or bus to Girona or Figueres, you can connect local services to the coastal towns and resorts.

The original Tossa de Mar, founded by the Romans and now called Vila Vella (old town), rises from the sea like an encrusted barnacle - still walled and turreted, and with cobblestone lanes. Climb up its ramparts and you're rewarded with exceptional views along this seemingly uninhabited coast, back toward the main beach and new town, and down into a secluded beach called Es Codolar, reachable at the edge of town.

Vila Vella features several machicolated and crenellated towers, the remains of a 15 th -century Gothic church, an old clock tower (for decades the only public time-piece in Tossa) - and, importantly, a bronze statue of Ava Gardner.

"She's done a lot for this village," said our tour guide, as she led us down a narrow lane of centuries-old cottages to the Castell Vell (old castle) restaurant. Owned by an outgoing Catalonian couple and their son, who did the serving, the restaurant is part of a trend to revive the traditional fisherman's kitchen and older Costa Bravan cuisines.

Sitting on a vine-draped veranda, we ate our way through a parade of plates of local tapas - including local sausages, anchovies and shellfish - then delved into a signature noodle paella with aioli (garlic mayonnaise).

The wine flowed and "lunch" absorbed much of the afternoon, Spanish-style. Eventually we made our way - gingerly - down from the Vila Vella, and into "modern" Tossa. Most year-round residents, said our guide, are Catalonian, Spanish (note the distinction), British and French. In June Tossa was chock-a-block with tourists.

Girona (or Gerona), a major city, is north and inland. From the train station you cross the slow-moving Onyer River onto a wide pedestrian boulevard lined by uninspiring stores and eateries catering mainly to tourists.

At the far end of this promenade, we climbed what was once a fortified hill (Girona has been "besieged" 22 times over the centuries) into a small plaza from which rises a cathedral - approached by a daunting flight of baroque steps - so mammoth and towering to appear (no doubt intentionally) overwhelming.

Late in the day, I had to want to climb those steps and I'm glad I did. Started in 1312 and rebuilt in the 14 th and 15 th centuries, Girona's cathedral is a showpiece of the late Middle Ages. Its nave, 22 metres across, is the largest in the world. As impressively, the interior looks and feels ancient. Embellishments include fine stained glass windows, ecclesiastical art and Romanesque cloisters framed by carved columns.

From Girona it's a short drive north again to Fugueres, best known as the birth- and death-place of eccentric surrealist Salvador Dali.

The Gala-Dali Museum (Gala was his Russian-born muse-wife) is fronted by red walls and round tower dotted with yellow symbols representing loaves of bread, and topped with huge luminous white "eggs," both upright and reclining.

Courtyard curiosities include a pole wrapped in car tires and crowned with Gala's rowboat and umbrella ("The Rainy Taxi"). Inside the craziness continues in paintings that hint at Dali's obsession with time - think limp melted pocket-watches, and unfathomable depictions of Christ. An unavoidable standout is a facial portrait of movie icon Mae West in the shape of a sofa and wall hangings (the work is an entire room).

Some of the paintings are modest in style (like an early oil of Port Alguer at nearby Cadaques, where he lived much of his life) and a 1923 self-portrait conspicuously minus the flamboyant moustache (as well a mouth, for that matter).

And the small, separate museum called Dali Joies (jewels) is a knockout, with 27 pieces made with gold and semi-precious stones - all incredibly imaginative - displayed in a darkened room, and illuminated to their best advantage.

But one emerges from this Dali realm - one that includes an uncharacteristically simple tombstone - a bit bushwhacked. It's all very colourful, impressive in its execution and occasionally moving - but you wonder what, collectively, it's all about.

Asked to comment on Dali's character, our museum tour guide said "tortured." Amazing what a troubled artist can do for a town.