Sitges, Catalonia, Spain is a modest city about 35 kilometers south-west of Barcelona famous worldwide for its cinema Festival and Carnival. Between the hills and the sea, it is recognized for its much-frequented beaches, nightclubs, and historic places. Sitges delivers one of most vivacious and hippest gay scene on the seacoast. The beaches are really colorful and diverting! The city wich looks out on the Mediterranean Sea has large avenues, narrow streets, a museuum and the beautiful beaches of Costa Dorada (Golden Coast)
While the roots of Sitges artsy reputation date back to the late 19th century, when Catalan painter Santiago Rusiñol acquired up residency there during the summer, the town really came into its own during the 1960s, when it was the only center for the counterculture on the mainland of Spain (then still under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco), and became known as a sort of "Ibiza in small". Now, Sitges can be considered a dynamic cultural oasis, basing its economic system on tourism and culture proposing more than 4,500 hotel beds, half of them in four-star hotels. The firm commitment for quality infrastructures has turned Sitges into a 1st class destination in terms of tourism of congresses, conferences, seminars and company encounters in the Mediterranean Sea area. It is as well a gay tourist town - in July and August gay men and lesbians visit Sitges as "one of the most popular gay holiday spots in Europe".
Sitges is very international. Almost 35% of the ca. 25.645 inhabitants are from the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Scandinavia whose kids can attend international schools. Sitges is as well called the Saint Tropez of Spain with property prices approaching those of the most expensive European cities, the main cause for this being the attractive setting by the sea and the environing Parc Natural del Garraf. Proximity to Barcelona airport is as well a great advantage.
From Barcelona: You can get there by train or by auto. The most comfortable way is by the train (RENFE). The travel by train from Barcelona costs €2.50, and takes around thirty-five mins. Direct trains leave from Passeig de Gràcia or Sants stations - from Plaça de Catalunya a change is necessitated at Barcelona-Sants. There are 4 trains an 60 minutes - 2 fast trains and 2 stopping trains. By automobile, there are 2 roads - either via the C-31 (a local road which winds its way around the cliff faces) or the C-32 (a toll expressway). The C-32 is suggested for speed and safety, however it costs about €5, while the C-31 is free. By Air, the nearest international airport is Barcelona/El Prat de Llobregat (BCN) airport (Sitges is accessible by train, transferring at El Prat de Llobregat). Reus/Tarragona(REU) airport is an alternative,for regional flights (Sitges is accessible by train transferring at either Sant Vicenç de Calders or Vilanova i la Geltrú).Girona/Gerona (GRO) airport is over 125 kilometers in Costa Brava. See also - Cau Ferrat: this house was owned by Santiago Russiñol, a modernist painter that devoted a lot of life to the trend. Numerous parties where held here, and now you can discover paintings, sculpts, etc. the name comes from Cau, ("place") and ferrat, ("made of iron"), as the place has several decorative items made of these materials. This museum has a small Picasso, several el Grecos as well as some small pieces by a range of Catalan modernists Do - Beaches here are eleven beaches of altering sizes. The most famous one is maybe Platja de St Sebastian, situated just north-east of the Cau Ferrat. Eat - The streets near the waterfront are filled with street coffeehouses and restaurants. Local youngsters gather on the beach after nightfall. Sitges Webcam - Latest 7 pictures
Sitges Carnival - For over 100 years, Sitges has been celebrating around-the-clock -between the months of Feb and March, according to the liturgical calendar- Carnestoltes, or Carnival. The celebrations commence on Dijous Gras, or Fat Thursday, with the arribo, King Carnestoltes' spectacular arrival. From the moment this character appears until the burial of the sardine - late afternoon on Ash Wednesday - you could well say that life in Sitges moves to a new beat. Here there is even room for youngsters to step into the limelight with children's "ruas", or Carnival marches, on Sunday and Tuesday afternoon. Folk dances and xatonades (traditional local salad served with assorted omelets) are also characteristic carnival components. The 2 most crucial instants are the Rua de la Disbauxa, or the Debauchery march, on Sunday night and the Rua de l'Extermini, or Extermination Parade, on Tues night. Some forty-odd floats with more than 2,000 participants leave a jam-packed Sitges totally breathless. Culture - Modern Sitges, preserving important references from the Middle Age and the old farmers' and fishermen's town, offers visitants an astonishing architectural and cultural heritage, the result of initiatives by artists, cultural vitalizers and patrons like Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Miquel Utrillo or Charles Deering. Thanks to them, Sitges was a reference point for authors, musicians and other intellectuals and became an important center for distributing Modernism and the "Americanos", who, after coming back with their "fortune" from their American adventure, commissioned large houses from Modernist and Noucentista (post Art Nouveau) architects. 17th century seaside church of Sant Bartomeu I Santa TeclaThe museums, guided tours or paseos close to the old quarter allow us to visit and relive this crucial legacy. This imaginative impetus has made it achievable to make new projects like The International Barcelona-Sitges Vintage automobile Rally, the International cinema Festival, the International Jazz Festival or the Summer Concerts Series. Museums - Cau Ferrat Museum : Cau Ferrat was the house-cum-studio of artist and writer Santiago Rusiñol ( b. Barcelona 1861; d. Aranjuez 1931 ), one of the leading figures of Catalan Modernisme. Maricel Museum : The American Charles Deering (1852-1927) had the Palau Maricel built to house his art collection in an attempt to copy the precedent set by Cau Ferrat. In 1921 Deering returned to the United States. and the palace was vacated. In 1969 however, the building recovered the use to which it had seemed destined since its conception, by welcoming a major private collection, a contribution by Dr. Pérez Rosales, for the most part consecrated to medieval artwork. Streetview in Sitges Museu Romàntic "Can Llopis": The Museu Romàntic "Can Llopis" is a perfectly conserved 19th century house which allows us to take a closer look at the life style of a family of Catalan homeowners who domiciled their magnificence during the years of Romanticism. It was built at the end of the 18th century in a neoclassic style with sober, graceful lines and very little decoration. Faithful to the Mediterranean Sea tradition, the home has a central patio with a staircase leading to the principal living living quarters. The interior design demonstrates how tastes changed from the time the building was built - when they were powerfully influence by aristocratical elans - to the triumph of the forms of bourgeois Romanticism. Gastronomy - Xató is Sitges' most characteristic dish. It appeared in the press for the first time in a report about Maundy Thursday published in the local paper Eco de Sitges the 16th of Feb of 1896. The article refers to a meal that 3 days before had gathered together a selected group of Catalan artists and intellectuals, Santiago Rusiñol, Miquel Utrillo, Gaietà Buigas and other people. The name "xató" comes from an expression pronounced yrs earlier by Canudas, a member of the Rusiñol's group. The main ingredients of xató are escarole salad, cod, tuna, anchovies and arbequine and black olives. However, the essence of the dish is its sauce, made with scalded chillies, toasted almonds, garlic, olive oil, salt, vinegar and hot peppercorns. The accomplished xató meal consists of some different omelets or fricandó (a typical Catalan hot meal) and as a dessert coca de llardons (typical Catalan cake, made from porc scratchings). And to drink a good bottle of Penedès black wine. Apart from the xató, there are some additional typical dishes from Sitgetan culinary art, which turn fish into an unequivocal sign of identity. Rice in the Sitgetan method, stewed sepia with potatoes and all-i-oli (typical Catalan garlic sauce), bull de tonyina (typical sailors´ dish made with tuna fish), fideuà (typical sailors´ dish alike to paella, but with noodles and seafood) or stuffed peppercorns with cod. Such diversity insures the fantastic richness and uniqueness of our gastronomy. As for drinks, malvasia is the most representative one. We are talking about an oloroso and delicate liquor wine, excellent for desserts. The name "malvasia" comes from the Peloponnesian port Monembasía. In Sitges, the Hospital Sant Joan Baptista continues making and marketing malvasia concording to the conventional formula and for charity. The yearly production is roughly of 4.000 bottles (produced by the vines owned by the Hospital). The Sitgetan malvasia is created and maturated in the wine cellars of the Hospital. Beaches - Sitges has 17 sand beaches. Four of them are in the East: the 1st one called Les Botigues at the beginning of the seacoast, adjacent to the beachs of Castelldefels and the other 3 are following the seacoast of Garraf (Road C-31). There are 11 urban beaches and 2 in the west. These last 2 have difficult access. The last one (Playa del Muerto) is the gay beach. The main beach in May, in the background the church of Sant Bartomeu I Santa Tecla All the eastern and urban beaches have access facilities, flags indicating the state of the sea and almost of them have quality diplomas and blue flags presented by the EC. Motor Racing - Sitges is part of the long story of motor racing in Catalonia, from 1908-1920 events were staged over public roads from Sitges to Canyelles to Vilanova i la Geltrú, and from Mataro to Vilassar de Mar and Argentona. In 1922 and 1923 the Real Moto Club de Catalunya ran the Penya Rhin Grand Prix over a 9 mile circuit around the town of Vilafranca del Penedès until it was substituted by a short lived purpose built circuit, the banked Autodromo Sitges Terramar, which is still visible. Albert Divo won the only Spanish Grand Prix held at the banked 'Sitges Terramar' driving a Sunbeam. Catalonia - (Catalan: Catalunya; Spanish: Cataluña; Aranese: Catalonha), is an Autonomous Community of Spain. The Autonomous Community of Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² with an official population of 7,210,508 from which immigrants represent an estimated 12.3% of the total population. It borders France and Andorra in the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 kilometer coastline). Official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese.
The capital city is Barcelona. Catalonia is fractioned into 4 provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its territory corresponds to most of the historic territory of the early Principality of Catalonia. Catalan is the language of the Catalan autonomous government and the other public institutions that fall under its jurisdiction. Basic public education is given in Catalan other than 2 hours per week of Spanish average teaching. Businesses are required to display all information (e.g. menus, posters) in Catalan under penalty of legal fines; there is no obligation to show this information in either Aranese or Spanish. The use of fines was introduced in a 1997 linguistic law that aims to growth the use of Catalan.
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