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TheCap de Creus (Cabo de Creus inSpanish) is a peninsula and a headland located at the far northeast ofCatalonia, some 25 kilometres (16 mi) south from the French border. The cape lies in the municipal area ofCadaqués, and the nearest large town isFigueres, the capital of theAlt Empordà and the birthplace ofSalvador Dalí. Cap de Creus is the easternmost point ofCatalonia and therefore of mainlandSpain and the Iberian Peninsula.
The area is now aNatural Park.[1]
The peninsula has an area of 190 square kilometres (73 sq mi) 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 easternfoothills of thePyrenees, 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, nearPort Lligat where Dalí built his home in a paradise small bay. (Dalí depicted the peninsula in his paintingsThe Persistence of Memory andThe Great Masturbator.)[2]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 500 metres (1,600 ft) 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 theCap de Creus was hewn byHercules.[citation needed]
The Cap de Creus offers many geological exposures of exceptional interest, especially for the study ofVariscan intrusions and shear zones. It is rated as "a worldwide reference place for structural geology".[3]
42°19′09″N3°19′19″E / 42.31917°N 3.32194°E /42.31917; 3.32194
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