♪♪ -It's said a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Ah.

Welcome to "Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out."

-♪ Steppin' out ♪ -Today, we're steppin' out in Cadaqués, Spain, where I feature the joy of food, drink, and living well on Spain's Costa Brava.

-"Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out" is made possible by... -Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn and travel and fulfill their dreams in the United States and in more than 100 countries.

From exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy, we've introduced adults to places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

♪♪ -There's a reason people call Myrtle Beach the beach.

There are 60 miles of wide, sandy beaches along South Carolina's Grand Strand coast.

This vacation destination has golf courses, attractions, food, wine, and Southern sun.

-iBienvenidos a Cadaqués, España!

Cadaqués, located on the northeastern edge of Spain's famous Costa Brava, is a sparkling jewel in a treasure chest rich with natural and manmade attractions.

From the Girona region's rocky coast, beautiful beaches, and hidden coves to its picturesque villages filled with museums, restaurants, and bars, a visit to Cadaqués offers something for everyone.

The town sports a Mediterranean flair that attracts world-famous artists, devoted sunseekers, and appreciative connoisseurs of fine food, drink, and la alegría de vivir -- the joy of life.

Gracias.

That's a work of art.

That is a work of art.

♪♪ Salud.

-Salud.

-Manel, this is a really interesting drink because it has so many different things going for it.

What's the secret?

How do you know what goes best together?

-So, my inspiration comes from all the places that I've been.

I've been in more than 36 countries.

So every country I go, I choose something that represents that country.

So, for example, this cocktail that I'm going to make you now, it's called Coco Thai.

-Coco Thai.

-It's inspired in Thailand.

Okay?

So we're going to put 50ml of vodka Belvedere, a really cool vodka.

This is coconut cream but infused with lemongrass, kaffir lime, and hand of Buddha.

So we're going to put 100ml of that infusion, a little bit of simple syrup, a little bit of sugar and lime juice.

Just shake it.

Have to try it, always.

Awesome.

And then we're going to freeze the glass.

And I have a really cool machine.

-[ Chuckles ] What a nice touch.

-Yeah, right?

And the glass, now it's under 60 Celsius degrees.

-So it only keeps the drink cool.

-Yeah.

Super cool, it has to be.

And then -- Super cool.

It also looks like a work of art.

-Yeah, right.

And then, we're going to finish it with a coconut foam, a little bit of fresh lime.

And the garnish, kaffir lime.

We're going to put it here.

And just behind.

Here you have.

Hope you like it.

-Coco Thai.

-Coco Thai.

-You know, what we're doing is we go to a destination and try to share with people the culture.

So you're doing that, in a sense, with your drink.

So you're telling me that you went to Thailand and you saw -- -I was eating -- I was eating a tom yum soup.

-Yeah, yeah, of course.

-The tom yum soup, the classic one.

So it's a tom yum -- It's a kind of tom yum soup, but in a cocktail.

-A cocktail.

-With no fish, with just coconut.

-Tom yum soup in a cocktail.

I love that.

-Coconut citrus and a lot of love.

-How about your clientele?

How are they reacting to this?

What do they think?

-Not in many places they can find this kind of cocktails.

-Oh, my gosh.

-It reminds you to Thailand?

-Yes, it does.

Gracias for having us here and gracias for sharing with us your talent.

It was absolutely wonderful.

-It was a pleasure.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Ah.

This is how I was first introduced to Bar Boia, coming down every morning, having a café con leche, un poquito de pan, a little bit of bread and my coffee and milk and greeting the day here like the people who wake up every morning and come out and swim in the bay.

It's a wonderful wake-up call.

I can understand why Salvador Dali and his wife lived here, why they made their home here.

There are so many things that Cadaqués offers the artistic soul and the traveler's heart and soul, as well.

Being provincial.

♪♪ Within walking distance of Old Town Cadaqués is the home of surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

Step inside and into the ethereal life and mind of Dali and his wife, Gala.

From 1930 to 1982, Salvador Dali and his wife, Gala, lived here in their home that started out as a fisherman cottage and grew and grew and grew.

And every room is an expression of his art.

And look, when you come, for the small details.

You need the time to come and go through the house and contemplate each room as a piece of art.

Except for the 12 years during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, Dali spent most of his time here.

This is his workshop, beautifully lit from the natural light from outside.

And the inspiration from the fishermen's boats, the sea, and the surrounding landscape.

There's a lot of interesting things in this room, but particularly of interest is this painting easel, if you will, large painting easel that would move up and down, would go down to the floor below, originally manually run and then finally electrified so he could sit in his chair.

In comfort, he could paint.

This is their extraordinary bedroom.

In 1982, Dali's wife, Gala, died.

He died seven years later in 1989, but in 1982, when she died, it was the last time he was in this home.

♪♪ -Ah.

You know what's great about this house is it has so many places where you can breathe.

You go through little corridors where you then open up and you're in an open space.

That happens throughout the house and here in the garden.

This would be a place that you could escape to.

This house really gives me the sense of the two spirits, Dali and his wife.

And though, of course they had a simpatico, a synergy between them, they were different in ways, too.

You can see both of their influences here.

This is a place for entertainment.

This was a place for celebration.

This was the center of activity in life, when he had his big parties, invited people, and some of them were basically strangers that he allowed in.

And some of them were, of course, very, very close friends and celebrities.

I love the images of the snake going through the -- around the pool.

The wonderful thing about the Dali house is you -- Every time you walk through it, there's something new you'll see.

And there's a bunch of bullfighters surrounding the fountain here.

What is that about?

It's about life is a dream filled with all sorts of different visions and images that come in and out of your mind, and he just allowed them all to flow.

And he made a reality of those images.

I think this is an interesting place in the garden to stop.

You have his iconic egg sculptures.

This egg above me, new egg filled with potential yet to hatch, and then the big egg in the corner of the terrace, already broken through.

Life is out.

That's pretty significant.

But you know, I'm not an art historian by any means or an art critic.

I'm having an emotional reaction to these images, and that's what I believe as a traveler is what you should be having, and not just walk through and bypass them because they have something to offer you.

That's why an artist creates.

As you go through the house and gardens, you get the sense that, at every turn, there was something to inspire creation, and certainly the environment itself would complement the environment that he created.

And standing at this point, looking out on the sea, you can see how that would have filled him with creative energy and just take you to a place where you could have some of the visions that he had.

♪♪ After my surrealistic tour of Dali and Gala's home, I joined my new friends from Bar Boia on a watery coastline tour of Cap de Creus National Park.

This is a favorite pastime of Dali and Gala, and the boat is called Gala.

It's one of three that exist, but this was the first one.

And they would go out here to Cap de Creus and the surrounding area.

This is called Portlligat, and that's where his house actually is.

But this is all considered the Cadaqués general area.

So when you come to Cadaqués, this is some of the activities you can do here, taking a ride up and down the coast.

You'll experience some of the small towns in the area, and all of them feature excellent food and excellent activities to do, and of course, beautiful natural scenery.

Got a bunch of friends on board.

We should have a good time today.

♪♪ ♪♪ It's often very still and sunny and calm here in the Cadaqués area, but sometimes it's not because they have a famous wind here called the Tramuntana, and it is the wind of Cadaqués.

It brings all the breeze.

It brings all the spirit into this area.

And it blows and blows and blows, and sometimes it's really, really strong.

And sometimes it's nice, fairly gentle as it is today.

But it does -- It is part of the environment of being in the Cadaqués area.

♪♪ ♪♪ -In the back.

No, no, no.

-I guess it's time to go swimming.

Looks good.

Whoo!

♪♪ ♪♪ You know, I grew up on the Atlantic Ocean, and I've lived most of my life on the Pacific Ocean.

And both of those are beautiful and the coastlines are spectacular.

There's something about the natural part of the Mediterranean, of course, the beautiful colored water, the rocks.

But mostly what it is, is about the cultures, about the people, the eons, the centuries of different cultures that have lived along the Mediterranean.

And you let all that energy from all those people feed you while you're here.

It's wonderful, I love it.

My background is Spanish.

I could be a little bit prejudiced, but it's -- it's still wonderful.

The hot sun, the cool sea, and a gentle Mediterranean breeze ease us back to a serene Cadaqués sunset.

♪♪ A short drive from Salvador Dali's creations and Manel Vehi's concoctions, art as food is on display at Miramar, the Michelin two-star restaurant and home of chef Paco Pérez.

In fact, the chef has five Michelin stars, including his two-star Enoteca, located in the stylish Hotel Arts Barcelona.

On this site, in the fishing village of Llancà, in 1939, his wife Montse's grandparents opened a small eatery and inn.

It has evolved into Miramar, a Mecca for those in search of excellence and the Girona region's cuisine, which reflects its sea and mountain environment.

I first met Paco a year ago and vowed to come back to discover the inspiration behind his handiwork.

Family is the heart and soul of the restaurant's magic.

To begin at the beginning, I joined his son, Guillem, and his daughter, Zaira, on their daily outing to Llancà farmers' market for some of the Miramar's culinary components.

-This is St. John.

-Yes.

-St. Juan.

-St. Juan.

St. Johnny.

-St. Johnny.

-Because it is only a variety of pears that is -- -This is a pear?

-Now, yeah.

-This is a pear?

This is probably the smallest pear I've ever seen.

-It's only this season.

-Only now.

-Yeah.

-And that's the other good thing about the market is you get the seasonal feel.

-Yeah.

-And at the restaurant, that's what you specialize in is what's the freshest, right?

-Mm-hmm.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

-I understand there's a fish market tonight we'll be able to see.

-Yeah.

-And obviously we're on the sea, so you want that fresh fish, for sure.

-So, from the tomatoes.

-From the tomatoes to here, it's all local.

But we're going to be picking up some of the product that's going to end up on my plate tonight.

So we're getting local produce that will be part of the dishes that Paco will be making.

You know, that's what you want.

You want the local ingredients that you can take back to the magician back at the restaurant, who will create the art that I'm going to be dining on tonight.

Excellent.

[ Man speaks Spanish ] An interesting thing that happens here in this particular stand is this gentleman, who was a producer and now sells other people's product.

If it's local, he has kilometer zero on it.

So, you know right away this is a local product.

Some of the others come from other parts of Spain, mostly, or other parts of Europe.

And this... -Let's taste it.

-Where's your sister?

Come here.

Okay, so I see it.

-I start to eat.

-You start to eat already?

-Can't help it.

-You're eating the peach.

Okay, this is... ¿Cómo se llama?

-Nispera.

-Nispera?

-Nispera.

I call that nispero.

-Nispero.

Nispero.

Okay.

-She call it different.

Wait a minute.

-[ Speaks Spanish ] It's good.

You like it?

-Yeah, it looks like a -- It looks like an apricot almost.

but it doesn't taste like -- -Yeah, it's family.

-It's a family of the apricots, but it doesn't taste like an apricot.

And these are -- These are peaches.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, I'll bite on this side.

-[ Speaks Spanish ] -Now your brother wants one of the pears.

Oh, here.

-Taste this.

-I'll give you back this.

-It's very...

It's the smallest pear.

I've ever seen in my life.

-Yeah.

-The one-bite pear.

-Yeah.

And it's, you know, tight.

-Oh, it's hard.

Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

-Good.

It's all good.

-[ Speaking Spanish ] Hola, buen día.

[ Speaking Spanish ] This is for you.

And... -Gracias.

-How is it?

-Good.

This is fuerte.

So, in the States, when I buy manchego, I just get one choice.

Here in Spain, you get three different choices.

This is suave.

And this one -- Wow.

Completely different.

-Yeah.

-This is almost like Parmesan.

It's so spicy and dry.

It's wonderful.

-Yeah, yeah.

-But it doesn't taste like manchego to me.

-It just smells different.

-This one is...

This is what we get in the States.

And then, the only one from this area that he has is this one over here.

-Show him Montseny, which is an area with mountains.

-[ Speaking Spanish ] -Gracias.

-Merci.

-My local cheese.

As you know, I'm a cheese fanatic.

And now I've got cheese from Girona.

-Yeah.

-Girona area.

Well, when you come to Spain, of course, you know, you want to have a picnic or something, you certainly have to include ham in your diet.

These are just basically the standard hams of Spain.

Serrano, which a lot of people know.

-Yeah.

-But maybe not so many people know Iberico.

-Iberico.

-Iberico.

It's a step above.

-It's better because above the porks are living freely.

-Ah, okay.

In places we call the esas.

-So they eat the local fruit?

-Yeah.

What kind of fruit is that?

-We call it bellota.

-Okay.

Acorns.

-Acorns in English.

-From the oak trees.

-Yes.

Yes.

-And do they get truffles from those oak trees, too?

-Sometimes.

-Sometimes, if you're lucky.

-Yeah, yeah.

-But anyway, if you're not lucky, you can at least come to any place, any vendor in Spain and get some of the great hams of Spain.

Terrific for sandwiches and picnics.

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

for a quick tour of the rest of the market, it looks like it's mostly shoes and clothes.

-Yeah.

-This is -- I was looking.

This is very European for men to wear colors like this, I think.

Right?

-Yeah.

-Wouldn't you say?

-It's a sailor -- -It's a sailor thing, you think?

I love the light green.

-Yeah.

-Indiana Jones.

-Indiana Jones?

I'm going to try these on.

I'll be right back.

-Okay.

-Hey, what do you think?

Pretty good, huh?

I feel like a sailor.

Da da da-da.

You really don't have to go to the market because you have your own garden where you get all your stuff from.

Is that true?

-We have our own garden, we have tomatoes, we have strawberries and other vegetables.

But we believe we need to buy things in the markets because there is people who has to make a living also.

-So you have to contribute to the community.

-Of course.

-So you could grow it all here, but it's better to buy it from people to have them benefit from your prosperity.

-Yeah.

To find the balance.

Right?

-Absolutely.

So you know, here we are back with the idea of it fits with the restaurant.

Everything has to be in balance.

For it to be perfect to taste, you have to have a balance of flavors.

And life is kind of like that, too.

You have to have a balance of the crazy times and happy times and sad times and everything in order to make a decent human being.

Huh?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Miramar is primarily a seafood establishment, and the source for all its intricately designed and fashioned dishes is right outside its door.

At dawn, the fishing boats head out on a hunt for what gifts Neptune may grant them.

♪♪ Like the artist he is, Paco designs foods that express his imagination, taste, and talent because, as he puts it, a cook's reason for being is the happiness reflected on the face of his guests.

This is the way he works.

You'll see there's other recipes here.

-This is all ideas.

-All ideas that he's been working on.

-This is umami.

Simplemente dos ingredientes.

Only two ingredients.

-Only two ingredients.

-Only two ingredients is everything.

-And it's one of the foods we're going to eat tonight.

So, tonight, when I eat something like this, I'm eating the culture and the history from the area.

-Yes.

Of course.

-Preparation for the evening's meal begins early in the day, with Paco overseeing his staff's creative efforts.

Miramar's a family affair, and everyone has a role to play.

What is your role in the restaurant?

-Helping my family.

-Yeah.

-And doing -- And having fun with the guests.

-Are you following your father's footsteps?

Are you becoming a chef, too?

-Not really.

-No?

-I know how to cook.

-Of course.

-I love it, but not professionally.

-Okay, so what are your dreams then?

What are you thinking of?

-I'm thinking of helping the business of my parents grow, develop myself, but also in poetry, for example, I am a poet.

I do write poetry.

-So your father is a drawing, an artist in creating, in food.

And you're an artist with words?

-Yes.

-Look at this.

Dinner at the Miramar is an event.

Gracias.

The sea tasting menu offers 26 dishes that feed all of the senses.

Yes, it's tough to suffer through all that glorious food and drink.

It's a long and arduous task, but if someone has to do it, please always let it be me.

Buen provecho.

You may remember the dish that Paco was drawing for us as his work of art that he created and... aquí esta, here it is.

Okay, so here's the big thing.

We have this.

The perfect wine and the perfect piece of art.

Mm.

A fine way to end a wonderful evening here at the Miramar.

Muchas gracias, Paco.

Muchas gracias to the family and to all the family, greater family here.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Thank you for joining me on my Cadaqués, Spain, episode.

Travel and the cultural art of fine food and drink go hand in hand, and every installment aims to bring you the best of each destination I visit.

In the town of Cadaqués and nearby villages of the province of Girona, I celebrated Catalan creators of world-class cuisine and libations and the surrealistic art and life of Salvador Dali.

It was an artistic feast, complemented by great natural beauty and scenic attractions, and at the heart of every delicious experience were the Spanish people... Gracias.

...warm and proud, independent and industrious, and offering a friendship... Buenos días.

...once established, that will last a lifetime.

Until we meet again, remember the words of Mark Twain -- "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

May your next adventure always be your best.

-"Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out" is made possible by... -Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn, travel, and fulfill their dreams of the United States and in more than 100 countries.

From exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy, we've introduced adults to new places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

♪♪ -There's a reason people call Myrtle Beach the beach.

There are 60 miles of wide, sandy beaches along South Carolina's Grand Strand coast.

This vacation destination has golf courses, attractions, food, wine, and Southern sun.

♪♪ -For a DVD of any of "Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out" adventures or my companion memoir and travel book "Musings: The Short Happy Pursuit of Pleasure and Other Journeys," call 888-876-3399, order online at josephrosendo.com, or e-mail us at tv@josephrosendo.com.

-♪ Steppin' out ♪ -Now that we've stepped out in Cadaqués, Spain, together, learn more at josephrosendo.com, where you can follow my worldwide adventures through my e-magazine, blog, podcast, and social media.

Stay in touch.

888-876-3399, or tv@josephrosendo.com.

-♪ Steppin' out ♪ ♪ Steppin' out ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Steppin' out ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Steppin' out ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Steppin' out ♪ ♪ Steppin' out ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪