It’s sad when you realize you should only set aside a day or two for Cadaques. Like a good one night stand, it’s only good for one night. But then again, Time there doesn’t behave like we’re used to.

Cadaques is a coastal village on a strip of jagged, jutting land between France and Spain. Costa Brava, “The Brave Coast”. And we felt brave enough to pick up a hitchhiker on our way up the mountain road that protects the village. The hitchhiker stressed the Time dilemma in a French accent– “It’s perfect for a day or two.” He had an Outer World sense of time, like us.

Driving down the mountain into the village exposed us to the twisting headlands and olive farming terraces built out of flat stones from an unknown century. Staring at the anomaly. Time here warps drastically like the rocky beaches below. You’d need a compass to sort out the direction you’re facing and an expensive watch to tell the Time in Cadaques.

Cadaques is an “if you have Time” trip. You could nearly count the number of white Spanish buildings in the whole town, if you spent an hour doing so. After a while it becomes clear the Outer World doesn’t affect this place much at all. Its geographic isolation mirrors its isolation in Time. Here, rock skipping with your mates is far more important than nuclear war.

We know from general relativity that Time only moves relative to something else. So you “lose time” in the Outer World by visiting. But in Cadaques, relative to the Outer World, you “gain time” by going. And indeed, the black cats that stroll the village appear far older and wiser than the pudgy French tourists.

I can tell you with great certainty the amount of Time I spent in Cadaques. But that will not tell you anything at all.