Pere Puigdomènech: "We took almost three hours to get there but it was so nice, it was worth it"

Pere Puigdomènech has more than one favourite place, he hesitates between his home in the Sarrià neighbourhood of Barcelona or the laboratory he has at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), on the UAB campus. He assures that he likes his job very much, the laboratory is an important part of his life. But finally, neither one nor the other: he opts for Cerdanya. The first times that the physicist and emeritus professor of the CSIC went there with his family was because some friends invited them. They liked it so much that from that moment on they went there in the summers, first they rented an apartment and then they settled in what would be their second home: “That was more than forty years ago. The Cadí tunnel did not exist and it took us almost three hours to get there by a relatively complicated road, but it was so good that it was worth it.” He remembers that they stopped at a spa in Ribes to have lunch and then headed for the Collada de Toses. Explains that the tunnel represented a turning point that radically changed Cerdanya. Since access was facilitated, many more people come, no longer everyone knows each other, nor are cows or so many flocks of sheep seen. Now everything is focused on the construction of residences and the needs of people on vacation, and young people in the area have difficulty becoming independent because everything is very expensive: “At times it is saturated. I fear that water and some services will eventually be lacking. There are places you can no longer go because the road is full, even though you are 200 meters away from the most tourist spots and it remains magnificent”.  From Cerdanya, he likes that it is a wide valley and at the same time a small plain at 1,200 meters, which helps to stay cool, with a changing landscape, still with snow in winter and a spring where everything sprouts: “I like the feeling of openness, you see the Cadí, the Puigpedrós and the Puigmal. You can also walk through truly magnificent surroundings and enjoy the wild flora and fauna that thanks to hunting regulations is returning”. He says he is doing wonderfully in his apartment, which has a small garden and splendid views. Furthermore, now he can get there in less than an hour and a half, he can stay there to work thanks to fiber optics, and his children and grandchildren love to go there.When he is in Cerdanya, he takes the opportunity to cycle and walk, although less than he would like: “I am approaching eighty and the doctor advises me not to do anything foolish,” he says, laughing. He likes to go there to be with family and friends, and to go on excursions, taking advantage of the incredible surroundings. The apartment allows him to read and write, especially in August: “I am finishing a book, a reflection on the place that science occupies in today's society”.