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Catalonia a land
of reference
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l A modern country l Situation l Communications | An enterprising country l
|A well-prepared country l The economy l Culture and Sport |
Costa Brava l l The Pyrenees l Montserrat l The Ebro Delta
l Barcelona l The Romanesque tour l
In Catalonia there is a wide variety of landscapes and climates, ranging from the Pyrenean peaks, snow-covered in winter, to the Mediterranean-bathed coastline, with its pleasant, mild climate.
This is a diverse region made up of "comarques", which are tiny areas, each with its own personality, which is why there is such a feeling of diversity and contrast.
There is an impressive range of possibilities in Catalonia which has made this area the favourite destination for more than fifteen million annual visitors.
The Costa Brava and the Costa Dorada are the names which have been given to the two most popular and frequently visited stretches of the Catalonian coast.
Along these coastlines are magnificent beaches, accompanied by excellent tourist facilities. Mention should be made of the quality of the hotels and restaurants and the wide network of marinas.
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La Costa Brava is the coast of the Geronese districts of La Selva, Baix Empordà and Alt Empordà.
For centuries the Costa Brava was a mysteriously beautiful coast, with its sheltered coves and little village of seafarers and fisher folk.
Now it is an internationally-famous tourist area, the most important in the Mediterranean.
The best-known towns and villages are Blanes, Lloret, Tossa
de Mar, Sant Feliu de Guixols, S'Agaró, Platja
d'Aro, Palamós, Calella, Llafranc,
Palafrugell, Begur, Roses, El Port de la Selva, Cadaqués, Llançà,
Colera and Portbou, amongst others.
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The Pyrenees is a range of mountains that stretches from the Cantabrian coast to the Mediterranean, 430 kilometres long, and links the Iberian Peninsula to continental Europe.
The Catalan Pyrenees account fro almost half the range, and also 29% of the area of the principality.
Although the Pyrenees have often been seen as a barrier and a natural frontier, for Catalans they have always been a link, the backbone of the plains that stretch out on either side of Canigó, as symbolised by the Porta Catalana monument, where the four bloody bars rise up out of the common land on each side.
Winter sports have now been added to the traditional attractions of the mountains as a place for hiking and leisure.
In response to a continually rising demand, new ski facilities have been constructed and artificial snow has been introduced.
Catalonia has 12 ski resorts, with 116 ski lifts, able to carry 90,000 skiers per hour, and skiing areas at altitudes between 1,450 and 2,600 metres. There are also 13 places with facilities for cross-country skiing.
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Montserrat is a mountain of great beauty, with a curious geology, that surprises everyone. It stands in the middle of the most populous part of Catalonia. It could not be better placed to become, in many senses, the heart of Catalonia.
This remarkable mountain is also the site of a Benedictine Monastery built between 1023 and 1036. This combination of circumstances has made it a habitual place of pilgrimage of believers and non-believers alike, who visit the mountain and the almost black sculpture ,kept in the monastery, of the Virgin of Montserrat, the patron saint of Catalonia.
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The Ebro Delta, on account of its size and its morphological variety, is the most curious coastal feature of the Iberian peninsula, and indeed of the
western Mediterranean. It is in the very south of Catalonia,
and its land area amounts to some 320 square kilometres.
There are two large bays, the ports of Alfacs and Fangar, and a large number
of lakes or lagoons in its interior, where a lot of fish are caught. Most of
the land is devoted to the cultivation of rice.
The Ebro delta is the largest wetland in Catalonia, and its
ecosystem is one of the most important in the western Mediterranean. In August
1993 the Ebro Delta National Park was created, to safeguard the landscape and
the animal life of the area.
In Catalonia, there are other interesting national parks, such as Sant Maurici,
the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà, Cadí-Moixeró, Garrotxa.
The international community has recognised the importance of the delta and the Council of Europe considers it to be "an area of European importance". The European Community has declared it to be a "special bird-protection area".
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Barcelona, a city
of one and a half million people, is the capital of Catalonia. Because of its
population, its location and its infrastructures, Barcelona today is a cornerstone
of the life and economy of the western Mediterranean and of the south of Europe.
Barcelona is by the sea, on a plain between the rivers Besós and Llobregat,
and sheltered from the northern winds by the Collserola range of hills, one
of which is the Tibidabo. This land was occupied by the Laitani before it was
conquered by the Romans under Cornelius Scipio in the year 133 BC. The Romans
founded the Colonia Favencia Julia Augusta Paterna Barcino, the beginning of
present-day Barcelona.
Thanks to its long
history, visitors to the city can find several Barcelonas, notably the Old Town,
the Barcelona of the Gothic Quarter, a unique and incomparable district that
reflects the splendour of the Catalonia of those days. On the edge of this district
are the City Hall and the seat of the government of Catalonia.
The Barcelona that spread outside the old city walls, with the creation of the Passeig de Gràcia and the Eixample and the absorption of other towns and villages of the plain of Barcelona, is today the true centre of the city. Here is the commercial and public centre, whose backbone is the Rambla, and the business and financial centre, above all in the Diagonal area. This part of the city has a very functional layout, with regular blocks that facilitate the movement of traffic. The Metro and a very comprehensive system of buses link the various parts of the city.
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Romanesque is the artistic style that arose with the emergence of European nationalities under the empire of Charlemagne. Catalonia, of course, was not on the fringe of this process, and even developed its own variety, characterised in architecture by the admixture of Lombardian construction methods and the use of barrel vaults to roof large spaces and pointed vaults for smaller ones. The Pyreneean area is the heartland of Catalan Romanesque.
Apart from grand structures such as the cloister of Ripoll, Catalan Romanesque is remarkable for many little churches in the mountain valleys. Those of Boí and Taüll are particularly beautiful examples. When following the Romanesque Tour, the splendid mountain landscape and the ancient buildings combine to surprise the visitor at every turn.
l Catalonia: a land of reference l