Our History

About Castell d'Empordà

History is dead when you cannot relive it. Therefore Castell d’Empordà is a much more interesting guardian of Spanish cultural heritage than those inaccessible private castles and often static museums. During your stay at Castell d’Empordà you will be impregnated with its past automatically. Not during lectures but just by staying in and around the hotel, enjoying conversation, good food and excellent wines.

The earliest document in which Castell d’Empordà is mentioned dates back to March 18th, 1301.

1301

The Margarit family acquires the castle by a marriage union.

1413

Pere Margarit, a captain sailing under the flag of Christopher Colombus, discovers Isla Margarita.

1494

The chapel of Maria del Remei, meaning ‘remedy’ and referring to her healing power, is constructed adjacent to the castle. Up to this day, this sacred place is celebrated by the local people every year on the second Sunday of October.

1600

Salvador Dalí wants to buy the castle for his wife Gala, paying for it with his art. But the owner, Pedro Arpa, preferred cash. Instead, Dalí bought Púbol’s Castle.

1973

Already abandoned for more than 18 years the castle falls into the caring hands of Albert Diks and Margo Vereijken, founders of the present hotel-restaurant Castell d’Empordà.

1999
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Dali Pool

The Swimming Pools

The hotel has two swimming pools, one located next to the Tres Margarit Restaurant and the other located in the Da.li area. We have a towel service, parasols and large sun loungers so that your time in the pools is perfect.

 

Open 10.00H – 20.00H as from 15.04.2022 and until 15.10.2022.*

 

*The pool surveillance hours will  start at 10.00H up until 18.00H.

The Waterloo Battle

About Castell d’Empordà

The connection between Castell d’Empordà and Napoleon is Albert himself. It took him nearly 20 years to build Europe’s biggest scale model of the Battle of Waterloo that now can be found in the heart of the castle. The 18 square metre representation includes 2000 toy soldiers and about 500 horses, all of which are hand-painted.

The idea for the scale model stems back to Albert’s family history. His great-great-grandfather was a veteran of Napoleon’s Grande Armée and kept a diary of his adventures with the emperor. Albert also built a model of Castell d’Empordà being sieged in the 11th century, which is presented on the first floor right above the hotel reception.

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THE REST IS HISTORY

Albert's dream

“As a child I went to Spain each summer with my parents, my three brothers and our dog. We departed from Holland by car, pulling a caravan filled with food for three weeks. Having finally crossed the Spanish border I became fascinated with the ancient castles that started passing by in the Catalonian landscape on the other side of the window. At night, in my little tent on the camp site, I dreamed of having my own castle.

When I was growing up that dream kept on following me and viceversa, resulting in my discovery of Castell d’Empordà in the winter of 1999. It was love at first sight despite the dreadful condition of the building that poetically merged into the beautiful Catalonian scenery. Together with Margo, my partner, I decided to buy the castle. The day we got the keys we put up our little tent at the foot of the castle tower. There was no time for dreaming because our castle was a reality.

We started making plans for the painstaking restoration that would take a year and a half. Finally, in the spring of 2001 Castell d’Empordà opened its doors to our first guests. The rest is history.”

Albert Dirks, Owner

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