The Cap de Creus (Cabo de Creus in Spanish) is a peninsula and a headland located at the far northeast of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, some south from the French border. The cape lies in the municipal area of Cadaqués, and the nearest large town is Figueres, the capital of the Alt Empordà and the birthplace of

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

. Cap de Creus is the easternmost point of

and therefore of mainland

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and the Iberian Peninsula. The area is now a Natural Park. The peninsula has an area of of an extraordinary landscape value; a wind-beaten 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 Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

, the natural border between France and Spain. The region is frequently swept by the awful north wind " tramontana" (beyond mountains) 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. (Dalí depicted the peninsula in his paintings '' The Persistence of Memory'' and '' The Great Masturbator''.) 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 Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Geology

The Cap de Creus offers many geological exposures of exceptional interest, especially for the study of Variscan intrusions and shear zones. It is rated as "a worldwide reference place for structural geology".Elena Druguet and Jordi Carreras
''Folds and Shear Zones at Cap de Creus''
2019, Field Trip Guide, at semanticscholar.org.

References

External links

The Cap de Creus
Headlands of Catalonia Natural parks of Catalonia Extreme points of Spain {{catalonia-geo-stub

Geology

See also

References

External links