The next day, we journeyed to Figueres to visit the Dali Theatre Museum and returned to visit Casa Battlo at night for a light show and music performance on the roof.

So, to review, our itinerary for the second day out of three was:

Breakfast at Bed & Breakfast

Breakfast with additional cost
Part of breakfast spread. Note: It’s a QUIET floor. This sign is also around the actual bedrooms.
Breakfast bar 8:30-10:30am

Due to the faulty air conditioning in our room, which was promptly repaired, we received a complimentary breakfast the next day. There were some warm items, mini sausages, but I would say overall, it was a continental breakfast, which provided a well-balanced meal of pastries with fruit and vegetable options.

Getting to Figueres

Again, we used the metro just around the corner to get to Barcelona Sants, from which we took the Figueres-Vilafont. I initially used Google Maps, which led me to the Trainline app, which made it easy to book to Figueras. The only thing is, you can’t change your times. This seemed to be a universal experience with using middleman apps. Instead, try booking directly with the train company, Renfe. For this, I do recommend booking earlier as well. We almost didn’t get a ride due to peak tourism season and prices just kept going up.

Also, be sure to bring your passports as age-identifying ID, especially if you have kids around the cut off age for youth tickets. A staff member at the turnstile did not believe my child was 13 and did a double take. We couldn’t have passed through without that passport!

Dali Theatre Museum

The funny thing about my Gen Z kid is how obnoxious she found it that Dali had a museum all to himself! Part of the mystery of our generation gap—me, being a Gen Xer and she being twice removed—is how she would perceive of our experiences. I thought Surrealism is a concept that’s quite accessible for a 13 year old, even for concrete thinkers. Call it hormones, jet lag, or a more equitable perspective, she just didn’t get how he could get this all to himself.

A gift to Figueres

The Dali Theatre Museum, according to Spain’s official tourism site, Espana, was his gift to Figueres, after the town’s mayor ask him to donate one of his works to a local museum in the 60s. He rebuilt this museum on the same site as municipal theatre, where he had shown his first work. Inaugurated in 1974, he rebuilt the museum to reflect his own personality. My overall impression of the museum and neighboring jewelry exhibit is like a big jewelry box with quirky riches. Giant eggs alternate with Oscar-award-like statuary the dome sits atop the structure like a crowned jewel. In late June, when we went, the flow of tourism was at its peak and also accounts for adolescent grumpiness. Lines thronged the Mae West exhibit and key sites for selfies.

Dali Theatre museum interior
Museum domed interior
Mae West zoom out
On the way to Dali’s jewelry design exhibit
Jewelry sketch human-like coral
Jewelry sketch elephant
Jewelry elephant
Dali's works from Mae West to ceiling mural to jewelry design
Jewelry human-like coral
Ceiling mural of Dali and wife Gala's feet
Ceiling mural of Dali and wife Gala’s feet

We ended up waiting for an hour at the Figueres–Vilafont since we couldn’t change the time of boarding. Thankfully my child’s eSim access enabled us to watch a coming of age YouTube movie, Lily Chou Chou.

Micu Maku: Tapas + Paella

Seafood paella larger size
Lemon Fanta available in Europe only
The softest calamari ever: Rings or baby squid options
Goat cheese salad

I booked Micu Maku, as a moderately priced tapas place with high ratings for paella on The Fork App. Taking advantage of later start dining 9-11pm for dinner in Barcelona, we booked for 6pm. We had an 8pm booking for Magical Nights at Casa Battlo with Gold tickets. When we showed up, we were the only ones there practically and walk-ins who came after us had an easy time.

We highly recommend these dishes above: goat cheese salad (fried calamari – very tender!) and large delicious seafood paella (23,75 euros). These dishes above plus our bottled beverages came to 76 euros. We may have been able to go with the smaller size, which was recommended for two. However, we ended up eating our takeaway paella around 10pm after Magic Nights, so that we wouldn’t have to get breakfast the next morning. We were due at Parc Guell at 9:30am.

Magical Nights (Casa Battlo)

We did the Gold tickets for Magical Nights, which comes with an iPad/augmented reality that attempts to enliven the experience with character voices of the client’s family. And cava with live music on the roof. Plus an extra room with period furnishings. The audio guide was a linear narrative. Unfortunately, during the tour I was multi-tasking the lights in my garage over text I had left on which my husband said was a fire hazard. (It was jerry-rigged from Ikea.) My mom had no idea where the light switches were. So you can see where I wasn’t following along. My daughter found the kids version really too childish to follow. You can even see which musician is playing on which night and plan accordingly. Our singer did covers of American pop songs. He had a great vocal range but it would have been nice to hear more regional songs.

Getting people-free shots

Again, it was peak tourist season so at every turn, in every possible photo taken, there would be other folks in it. I decided to try out a technique recommended by a visitor to get less of the foot traffic in one’s photos. Basically, you could hang back and be the last one in the room. This worked quite well but drove my daughter crazy. She was hyper aware of the attendants there and how I was being the laggard.

Casa Battlo was just a few blocks down from Mihlton, so we walked back and chowed down on your paella leftovers in order to make Parc Guell the next day at 9:30am.

Barcelona Day Three.