By Ferran Adrià
Influential chef Ferran Adrià ran El Bulli, repeatedly voted “best restaurant in the world”, until closing its doors in 2011. Two years later, the Spaniard established elBullifoundation, a private foundation aimed at promoting gastronomic innovation.Once fully up and running the foundation will have two bases: elBulli1846 in Cala Montjoi, near Roses in Catalonia, which is expected to open this year, and LABulligrafia in Barcelona.
In 1984, when I began working at El Bulli restaurant, I started spending six months of every year in Cala Montjoi, a coastal town on the Costa Brava in Girona. In July 2011, we closed the El Bulli restaurant and began working on elBullifoundation. I have not lived in Cala Montjoi since, but I will again this year.
Why do I like life in Cala Montjoi so much? There are a thousand reasons, one of which is that almost no one else lives there, in that unique setting in a natural park, Cap de Creus, next to the Mediterranean Sea.
It is a place where I always feel in contact with nature, in the middle of a tranquility that is obviously difficult to find in a big city. Cala Montjoi is absolutely magical, not only to relax and enjoy the calm, but also to concentrate and work. The whole environment is ideal for relaxing — whether on the beach or walking from Cala Montjoi to Cala Jòncols — and for this reason I will return to live there.
When we restart our activities in Cala Montjoi, in particular in the buildings that once housed the El Bulli restaurant and now will host elBulli1846, my work will be just two minutes’ walk from my house.
Once again, I will be able to spend all my time enjoying nature, and the colours of nature and the smell of the sea that Cala Montjoi gives me every day. Which, as I look at it right now, seems like a real privilege.
Property inspiration
Like the sound of life in Cala Montjoi? Here are a couple of properties on the market in Girona province.
Mayfair International is selling a four-bedroom house in Roses, with a swimming pool and terrace enjoying views of the bay, for €890,000. The new-build property comes furnished.
Meanwhile, about an hour’s drive south in Palafrugell, a five-bedroom restored 18th-century house with more than 11,800 sq m of land including a swimming pool and more than 100 olive trees, is on the market for €1.5m. The property is about 3km from the beach at Llafranc.
Search for more homes in Girona at FT Property Listings.
Photographs: Alamy; Dreamstime