This week, for expats living in the
Gran Penedès the
oil spill which affected many
Costa Daurada beaches, the development of the project to build a
railway tunnel under
Sitges or the success of
Attic’09 in
Vilanova might be of special interest, but a lot more has happened. Here is a summary starting with the Penedès region as a total, followed by local items, presented
comarca by
comarca. Sitges, for example, can be found under the headline
Garraf.
Gran Penedès
An
oil spill to the south of Tarragona spread to many
Costa Daurada beaches, among them those of el Vendrell, Calafell, Cunit and Cubelles. In a few cases, red flags were hoisted up, although it never presented any health risks. Since last Tuesday the situation is back to normal, but the origin of the oil still has not been determined; most likely it came from a boat, but it might also have been spilled by an investigation platform. (
3d8) (
el Punt)
During his presentation of the so called Commuter Train Plan (
Pla de Rodalies de Barcelona), José Blanco, Spanish Minister of Public Works and Transport (
Ministerio de Fomento), committed the government to an additional € 1.000 million investment in a railroad semicircle (
tren orbital) which is to link the
comarca Garraf with Maresme, via
Alt Penedès and Vallès. The feasibility studies of the project will start in 2010. (
DdV)
The Spanish Ministry of Institutional Relations (
Presidencia) has granted € 37.500 to the
Institute of Penedès Studies (
Institut d’Estudis Penedessencs) and its project ‘
Noms i Llocs’ (Names and Places). The aim is to establish the identities of the
Civil War victims found in common graves and it has its background in the Spanish program
recupercaión de la memoria histórica. (
PD)
Joan Raventós,
CiU member of the Parliament of Catalonia, will during the coming week formally request for the
Generalitat to respect earlier decisions to let the
Penedès area become a
united entity in infrastructure plans (
àmbit funcional de planificació territorial), which, in turn, is the first formal step to the creation of a future, separate administrative region
vegueria Penedès. (
PD)
Garraf
During the summer, tourists will be offered
minibus excursions to the
Parc Natural del Garraf. On Thursday mornings, “the secrets of the natural reserve” will be presented and on Friday afternoons there will be tasting sessions of wines grown close to the sea. From next week, more information will be available at
Descobrirgarraf.cat. (
VD)
The
Consell Comarcal of
Garraf has launched
GarrafConnecta.cat – a
web portal for the industrial and
business activities of the
comarca, created with the aim to help people find work and education, start up a new enterprise or search for subsidies. (
DdV)
During July, one of twenty interested companies will be commissioned to carry out the study of the future
railway lines through
Sitges by the Spanish
Ministerio de Fomento. The plan is to create an
underground passage so that the two halves of the town can be connected through greenery areas. (
VD).
Officially, the Program of Municipal Waste Management does not point out Vallcarca of
Sitges as one of the future locations for a
waste incinerator serving the metropolitan area of Barcelona, but the
local CiU opposition has received confirmations that this is the case.
CiU points out the absurdity of having, in average, 120 big trucks a day transporting waste on a road which has recently been refurbished to be more scenic (
carretera paisatgística), and that would be the case if the plans are carried out. At the same time, the ecologist organization
APMA (
Associació per a la Protecció del Medi Ambient) underlines that to incinerate is not an environmentally friendly waste solution and that to consider building such a plant in the
Parc Natural del Garraf reveals how Catalan politicians have given up on ecology targets. (
DdV)
Montserrat Esquerda from
Sitges is one of the representatives of the platform
Som lo que Sembrem (We are what we Sow) who, by staging a
hunger strike outside the parliament of Catalonia, are protesting
against genetically modified food. (
DdV)
July 4, several bars of
Sitges took part in ‘
Dissabte Jove’ (the “Jove” Saturday) – the first part of a campaign by the local
castellers (human tower) team to recruit
new members. (
DdV)
In a few weeks, we will know whether the
Sant Pere de Ribes based company
Varo, S.A. - whose debt problems have been commented in earlier issues of
Penedès News - will be rescued by Swiss investor. (
DdV)
Adif – the Railway Infrastructure Administration – will erect a
fence along the
railroad in
Cubelles, with the objective to improve safety standards. (
DdV)
After criticism, the
Generalitat has presented a new solution for the planned highway
Eix Diagonal (connecting Vilanova to Manresa, via Vilafranca and Igualada), in which two tunnels have been added in order not to cut through
Canyelles. (
DdV)
Attic'09 – the International Fair of Inventions and New Ideas – celebrated last weekend in
Vilanova i la Geltrú, counted 3.200 visitors. With reports in, among others, the newspapers
LaVanguardia, El Periódico, and
El Mundo, plus the TV-stations
TV3,
Antena 3,
TVE,
Tele 5,
Cuatro and
La Sexta, it has developed to be the local event which receives the most attention from Spanish media. Winner among the inventors this year was
Jaume Freixas who has created the so called “
hydrohybrid”, a system which injects minuscule drops of distilled water into motors and thereby reduces the need of fuel with 20%. (
DdV)
An
invader algae with the Latin name
caulerpa racemosa has been discovered in the sea north of
Vilanova. The species comes from Western Australia and arrived in the Mediterranean in the 90-ies, but has so far never been found in Catalonia. Local fishermen now receive instructions on how to prevent its spread along the coast. (
VD)
The
fishing port of
Vilanova is the only one in Catalonia
not open to the public. To develop the port as a tourism asset, the
ajuntament wants to remove the fence, but the local fishermen are against it for security reasons, especially now in times of crisis when they regularly meet people
begging for food when they bring in the catch. (
DdV)
The
Vilanova hotel industry copes quite well with the crisis. Occupation rates will be 70% which is only five points below figures from last year. To help visitors, the
tourist information office at the beach Ribes Roges will be supported by a
temporary kiosk located where the
Rambla Principal intersects with
avinguda Francesc Macià. (
DdV)
This week, the
Rambla Pirelli passage under the railroad in
Vilanova was again
opened up for traffic and in two weeks time it will be open for pedestrians as well. (
DdV)
Alt PenedèsThe
wine harvest commission of Alt Penedès foresees that the 2009 season, planned to take place from mid-August to mid-September, will result in
25% job opportunities less than last year, reflecting a smaller harvest by also the increasing mechanisation of the industry. (
PD)
During a first meeting,
Adif has stated that it will not demand that the high speed train
TAV (AVE) slows down when it passes
Vilafranca del Penedès in the newly built tunnel. However,
CiU mayor
Pere Regull is confident that
new measurements will reveal that the vibrations caused by the
TAV are
above established limits. (
3d8)
During the
Festa Major of
Sant Pere de Ribes, the
Castellers of Vilafranca performed the first two human towers of
nine levels of the season 2009; a “
3 de 9 amb folre” and a “
4 de 9 amb folre”. (
DdV)
Baix PenedèsIn order to avoid drowning accidents, the
ajuntament of
Cunit will install a line of marker buoys between the breakwaters, employ three
more lifeguards and construct one new lifeguard tower. (
3d8)
A
strike has broken out at
Y-TEC in
Santa Oliva, where a hundred of, above all, female workers demand a future plan for the production facilities.
Y-TEC is a supplier to the automotive industry and declines in demand combined with the move of some production molds to Japan, has resulted in fears that the plant will be closed when the vacation period starts. (
3d8)
Anoia
During the coming week,
Igualada will for the eighth time host an
international course for orchestra conductors. Some 20 young people from Norway, Germany, Brazil, Libanon, Mexico and other countries will be offered the chance to practise with
Antoni Ros Marbà – Spain’s internationally most well-known conductor – and the
Vallès Symphonic Orchestra. (
AD)
After the decline in traditional industries, the comarca
Anoia works to attract
tourists. A recently concluded study points out that there are
several assets to develop; rural tourism in the country side and industrial museums in the towns, wind power parks for environmentally interested people while those who prefer sports could be attracted to the high speed circuit
Parc Motor plus events like the European (hot air) Balloon Festival and the light avaition fair
Aerosport. (
LVD)
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The main sources of
Penedès News in English are
Vilanova Digital (VD), Sitgesblog (SB), El 3 de Vuit (3d8), Penedès Digital (PD), AnoiaDiari·cat (AD), La Veu Digital (LVD) plus the print version of
Diari de Vilanova (DdV). All opinions expressed are my own.
A brief on the political party system of Catalonia can be found
here.
Earlier editions can be found under the label
Penedès News.
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Technorati tags: Barcelona, Calafell, Castellers, Catalonia, CiU, Cunit, Expat, Festa Major, Garraf, Human Towers, Igualada, Penedès, Sitges, Spain, el Vendrell, Vilafranca, Vilanova,
Somebody who sees falcons for the first time might think that they are castellers, building typically Catalan human towers. Although most falcon teams have adopted the gralla music and the waist band (faixa) of the castellers, what they assemble is usually more acrobatic and dynamic. While the first castells were erected as parts of religious ceremonies, falcons has its origin in sports.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in Llorenç del Penedès, home of the oldest active team (colla), founded in 1942. It members wear soft shoes and are specialists in performing synchronized formations with clear references to acrobatic gymnastics (acro) and, more precisely, the Czech Sokol movement. Sokol is Czech for the bird of prey falcon.
The Falcons de Barcelona (2003) is the oldest colla outside the Penedès, but at this year’s Falcon meeting as many as three more teams turned up: The Falcons de Castellcir (from the sparsely populated northern part of Vallès Oriental) have, as I understand it, performed during the local festa major since 2004, but formally entered the Federació de colles de Falcons only in 2008. The Falcons de Malla were founded in Osona in 2008. Finally, the Falcons del Riberal (2009) is the newest but also most exotic member since they come from Baó (Roselló) of Northern Catalonia (France).
The 8th annual Trobada de colles de Falcons (Falcons meeting) took place on June 27 in Vilafranca del Penedès and formed part of the hosts' celebrations of their 50th anniversary. The 450 particpants - nine colles - were split into three groups which paraded, and occasionally performed, separately before all they all joined each other at the Plaça de la Vila for simultaneous performances (actuació conjunta).
