The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL, May fifteenth, Dali-ing on the Costa Brava.

"Esmerelda, rosada y azul;" green for the trees, pink for the rocks, blue for the sea. That minimalist description captures the essence of the Costa Brava, the fierce coast. The 137-mile ribbon of rugged shore that defines Spain's northeast corner is where the rocky Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean. Lines of high cliffs and stony headlands cut the coast into a series of shallow harbors and sandy coves. The scenery has shaped the civilization that developed here, keeping this part of Calalonia distinct and independent.

The area's wild beauty has been both a blessing and a curse. Mass tourism arrived on the Costa Brava early, when in the 1950's package tours began importing sun- starved Europeans to bask on beaches of towns kept tiny by the twisted landscape.

Early in the 20th-century, the landscape also served as a magnet for creative pioneers. Picasso and Chagall were among a constellation of artistic lumenaries from vivid Costa Bravan vistas. The northern town of Figueres is where Surrealist Salvador Dali was born; the museum dedicated to him there is Spain's second most visited, after the Prado. But Cadaques, a more photogenic coastal village was where Dali made his home. The house near there where he lived for 50 years offers more revealing insights into the layered folds of his psyche.

Like Dali's art, the landscape of the Costa Brava has engaging, unexpected twists enough to keep curious travelers contented. Its fierce coast has kept its towns from growing into cities. Its beautiful verticality has defeated any urge to tame it.

This issue of the magazine National Geographic Traveler, a supporter of our program, explores Dali's erotic coastline.

FMI For more information, Spanish National Tourism, 212-265-8822 or www.tourspain.es or www.okspain.org

For Costa Brava www.costabrava.org

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