July is a Great Month to Discover Penedès!

Already before I started to compile calendars over Catalan traditions and other events in Penedès, did I have a feeling that July was too crowded with festivals. So it is this year as well, although the recent cuts in municipal budgets have made quite a few of them disappear. Here in Vilanova i la Geltrú, for example, we have lost the world music festival FIMPT and the innovation fair Attic.

Now this is an opportunity for Penedès as a territory. The distances between our towns are short, so hopefully people here will now realize that we cannot all have “our own” festivals for all possible tastes but rather ought to explore what our neighbour towns can offer.

Today I have finally published the Penedès Agendas for July 2-18 in English, and they are full of unique events. The most spectacular one is the European Hot Air Balloon Festival in Igualada (see: Anoia) but I assume that the wine, cava and jazz festival ViJazz of Vilafranca del Penedès (see: Alt Penedès) will attract a much bigger crowd. And during the same time period we will see the first big town festivals – Festa Major – in Cunit and Calafell, respectively (see: Baix Penedès) while Sitges hosts the more niche oriented festival Gay Pride Sitges (see: Garraf).

As soon as I have published the main structure of the agendas in all seven languages, it is my plan to try to come back with detailed translations of some of the individual programs. Let us see how much I will manage to do – I do, after all, hope to "live" many of these festivals as well. And I recommend you to do the same. July is a great time to Discover Penedès!

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By Erik Wirdheim – your guide in English and Swedish to the wine region Penedès (Catalonia, Spain).

Summer means human towers in the wine region Penedès

The season for building Catalan human towers (castells) traditionally starts on April 23 (el dia de Sant Jordi) and lasts until November, but the summer months are when the frequency of the exhibitions reaches the peak. Last Saturday, June 16, two teams showed their skills here in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf).

We in the local team, Bordegassos de Vilanova, showed great stability by again building a 2 by 7 (2d7), but also 5 by 7 (5d7) and 4 by 7 dismantled via a pillar (4d7a). However, we had to give up on our dream target for the day – to repeat the 4 by 8 which we had achieved in l’Arboç only a week earlier. We simply did not manage to get enough team members to come to the exhibition. I guess that they were down on the beach – it was, after all, a really hot afternoon.



Our guests on this occasion were Xicots de Vilafranca from Vilafranca del Penedès and – as always –I filmed their constructions while trying to explain what we saw. In this post you find the videos: a 5 by 7 (5d7), 4 by 7 dismantled via a pillar (4d7a), 3 by 7 (3d7) and a pillar of 5 levels (Pd5). And, yes, I realize that I should not have tried to make these comments in German without having prepared the vocabulary in advance. That will be one of my goals for this summer.




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By Erik Wirdheim – your guide in English and Swedish to the wine region Penedès (Catalonia, Spain).

Discover Penedes tourist agendas now up-dated in 7 languages

The part of Catalonia where I live is full of traditions and cultural and sports events which you can enjoy without fully understanding the local languages. At Discover Penedès you can now find new events calendars for the time period June 15 to July 1, in 7 languages: Catalan, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. What do you think?