ADIF - the Spanish authority responisble for railway infrastructure - has just started to put up a 2,2m high safety fence along the tracks from the train station Platja de Castelldefels to Port Ginesta, Botigues de Sitges (Garraf). The work is expected to be finished before the end of the year.
Ever since the highspeed train (AVE) service started to operate on the railway lines going through Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès) there have been severe complaints about noise. Now Mayor Pere Regull (CiU) has announced that he will lodge an administrative dispute with ADIF, the Spanish authourity responsable for railway infrastructure.
On the one hand, the ajuntament of Vilafranca wants for ADIF to reduce the noise in the non-covered parts of the track area, where it is still 13 decibels above the legal norms. On the other hand, it demands that the covered area – to which the local authorities do not yet have access – is cleant up since it looks like a deserted constructions site.
The AVEgoes through but does not stop in Vilafranca. Pere Regull admits that the formal dispute is above all aimed at putting pressure on ADIF. A court ruling on the matter could possibly clarify ADIF’s responsibilities, but it will take negotiations to achieve a solution which does not only meet legal minimums but is also good for the town from an urbanistic perspective.
- - -
Read more in Catalan (el 3 de Vuit) and Spanish (ABC).
I have already informed you that Dolce Sitges Hotel had been nominated in the category for Excellence in MICE (meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions/events) among establishments with more than 100 rooms in the 2012 Condé Nast Johansens Awards, so I am now happy to be able to announce that they actually won it.
Dolce Hotel overlooks the rest of Sitges from the hills to the west of the town. It was opened in 2004 and has 263 guest rooms, 39 meeting rooms plus an amphitheatre, a spa area, four restaurants and three bars.
Sunday October 6 was a day for which the weather forecasts predicted rain all around Catalonia, so also in Terrassa (Vallès Occidental) where Castellers de Terrassa planned for their final human tower exhibition this year. Since not only they themselves, but also their guests, were looking forward to their Diada de la Colla, from the very beginning did they have the partly covered squareVapor Ventalló as a back up solution for the day.
Due to a more or less consant drizzle, this is also where the human towers were built in the end. Castellers de Terrassa had hoped to find the form and be able to build 4de8, but in the end had to make do with completing 2de7, 5de7and 4de7a.
The most stable guests, Castellers de Sabadell (Saballuts), completed 5de7and2de7 but, above all their 15th4de8 of a season when they – a team which became colla de vuit (a team which regularly builds human towers of 8 levels) as late as two years ago - have been among the strongest ones in this group.
The other guests, Bordegassos de Vilanova, did not have any trouble completeing 2de7 but saw their 5de7(i) collapsing without having been crowned. However, most importantly, the team completed their 2nd 4de8 this year and now away from home. True, this happened after one intent desmuntat (a construction dismantled before being crowned) and long preparations, but the end result felt so controlled that the team decided to make an attempt also with 3de8(id). This construction was dismantled before crowning, but that does not really matter for a team which has been anything but stable this year, but are going through an amazing spurt now at the end of the season.
- - -
To live the positive spiral of Bordegassos de Vilanova "from the inside" is a wonderful feeling. In Terrassa, amazingly enough, I had the honour to be one of eight primers laterals in the 4de8. This time I certainly did not get the position neither for my qualities as casteller nor by necessity, but primarily for solidarity reasons. For the future, however, I will work hard to make it mine.
Four comarques to the north east and south west of Barcelona are now officially united under the tourism brand Costa de Barcelona (the Coast of Barcelona) – a measure intended to streamline and reinforce the marketing activities of these destinations, above all on the international level. The decision was taken by Agència Catalana de Turisme after pressure from business groups and a general insight that Catalonia has tried to promote itself with two many different names.
This means that the earlier names Costa de Barcelona – Maresme (used in the comarcaMaresme) and Costa del Garraf (used in the comarquesAlt Penedès, Baix Llobregat and Garraf) will disappear. The other eight tourism brands used in Catalonia are Costa Brava, (the city of) Barcelona, Costa Daurada, Terres de l’Ebre, Terres de Lleida, Catalunya Central, Val d’Aran and Pirineus.
- - -
Read more in Spanish: Hosteltur (1, 2) and ABC
The northern parts of Catalonia do not have many traditional exhibitions in human towers but one of the few exceptions is the one held in connection with the Sant Narcís trade fair of Girona. One of the great teams which usually comes here are Minyons de Terrassa and this year, on October 30, they wanted to end the season with a major success – the monster constructions 3de10fm (gamma extra) which they are the only team to ever have completed and both times at home, in Terrassa (1998 and 2002).
The latest training sessions had given them every reason to think this was possible. However, although the assembly in the square went very well, the top children did not feel convinced and the big construction had to be dismantled before being crowned (intent desmuntat). After this difficult start, Minyons completed3de9f and, later on, 2de8f but when, in between, they attempted to build 5de9f (gamma extra) they saw it collapsing before the crowning of its second part. For this team, the day was marked by deception and I guess they did not feel better when – three days later - Castellers de Vilafranca managed to crown 3de10fm.
The other teams, for their part, will remember Sant Narcís 2011 in bright colours. Capgrossos de Mataró completed 2de8f, 3de9f and 4de9f – in fact the same human towers which they then repeated in Vilafranca during Tots Sants.
The local team, Marrecs de Salt, has had a fantastic season (already before Sant Narcís had they recuperated 4de8, a human tower which they had not been successful with since 2002) and they ended it in the same way – by completeting 4de8 (their third one in 2011), 2de7 and 5de7.
Xicots de Vilafranca - the second team of human tower builders in Vilafranca del Penedès - have had a difficult season, not the least since quite a few of its former members now make up the core of the third team, Colla Jove Xiquets de Vilafranca, of this relatively small town. Having said that, during Diada del Roser, on October 30, Xicots managed to round off this year in the best possible way: by completing4de8 and 2de7 and, on top of that, their first 7de7 ever.
Their two guest teams had every reason to be happy, they as well. Castellers de Barcelona completed 2de8f, 3de8, 4de8 and, in the round of pillars, their first pde6 since 2009.Moixiganguers d’Igualada repeated the results of their most successful exhibition 2011; they completed 4de8, 3de7s and 5de7, but this time away from home and, on top of that, all on the first attempt.
With less than 100 inhabitants, Bellprat (Anoia) is the smallest municipality in Penedès, and its claim to fame is that it was here, during the so called second republic in 1934, Natividad Yarza Planas (ERC) became the first democratically voted female mayor in the Catalan speaking part of the world. To commemorate this personality, on October 30, there was quite a different exhibition of human towers, where only women were allowed to take part in the stem – el tronc.
The most advanced construction of the day – 4de7 - was completed by Xiquetes de la Jove de Valls, who also completed 7de6 and 2de6. Les dones de Castellers de Vilafranca completed 3de6, 4de6a and 2de6.Les dones de Castellers de Sants completed 5de6, 4de6a and 3de6s and – if I understand it all correctly – they were the only team which had not only the stems but also the bases (pinya) of their human towers made up exclusively by women.
The autumn rains are here and on November 3 they were especially heavy in the central parts of Catalonia. During one hour (between 7:00 and 8:00) parts of Anoia registered as much as 40 L/m2 and firefighters had to rescue a few drivers stuck in their cars and business owners whose warehouses had beed flooded. The worst consequences were registered in Barri del Rec and the industrial park les Comes of Igualada plus in some areas of neighbouring Òdena.
According to the score rules of the biannualConcurs de Castells in Tarragona, the most difficult human towers to complete are, first, 2de9f (i.e. with an additional support structure on the second level - folre (f) - but not on the third one - manilles (m)) and, second, 3de10fm and precisely these two constructions are what Castellers de Vilafranca managed to crown (carregar) but not complete (descarregar) during their Diada de la Colla, celebrated on November 1, Tots Sant, as of tradition.
The first success of the day came with 3de10fm(c) when it was crowned on the second attempt (the first one collapsed before crowning). It was the 7th time everVerds managed to carregar this human tower. (Since it was not completed, Minyons de Terrassa remain the only team to ever have done so with 3de10fm, and that on two occasions, 1998 and 2002.) On the other hand, the most unique construction of the exhibition this day, 2de9f(c), had only been crowned once before in casteller history – by Castellers de Vilafranca themselves, but back in 2005.
In the third round - with three collapsing castells fresh in mind - the team decided to not attempt building 4de9 (net, without folre) but opted for the more stable 5de9f – a construction which they themselves had only crowned this year, while Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls, so far, was the only team to have completed it. This time the construction was completed and when adding the score for this - their third gamma extra human tower of the day - to the earlier rounds, Verds achieved their best result of the season 2011 which in turn is their best season ever.
In the same exhibition, Xiquets de Tarragona was the second best team and completed a magic triplet of human towers usually reserved for the absolutely best teams; 5de8, 4de9f and 3de9f.
Capgrossos de Mataró also proved to be in great shape and completed the clàssica de nou; 4de9f, 3de9f and 2de8f.
Castellers de Sants, the fourth team, also they had reasons to celebrate: they completed 5de8 and 4de8 but, most importantly, crowned their first human tower of nine levels this season; 3de9f(c).
The total exhibition here in the plaça de la Vila of Vilafranca del Penedès (Catalonia’s number one square for human towers – la plaça més castellera),lasted for five hours and it is estimated that up to the moment when Verds managed with the 3de10(c), there were almost 10.000 spectators present in the square. It is also worth mentioning that on the occasion Verds had called in special support troops to reinforce the base – pinya - of the castells in the form of the rugby team Santboiana.
