CASTELLDEFELS BARCELONA SPAIN

1. CASTELLDEFELS BARCELONA SPAIN

2. Geographical location of Castelldefels 2

4. Description of the city Castelldefels is a city to the south Barcelona, located between two spaces of great natural interest: the Mediterranean Sea and the Garraf Natural Park. With a population of just over 60,000, Castelldefels is the tourism capital par excellence of the district of Baix Llobregat. This situation is based on its long-term commitment to tourism, and a natural advantage that supports this commitment: its almost six kilometres of well-equipped beach, which means that for many years, the city’s life has evolved around the sea. Its privileged location gives our visitors easy access to the many attractions offered by Barcelona and other neighbouring towns. 4

5. Food and restaurant facilities • Castelldefels has a large number of restaurant facilities that offer tourists and visitors a great choice of eating styles. • At present, Castelldefels has a total of 449 restaurants offering many different types of food (Asian, Mediterranean, African etc.) that can be divided into the following categories: • Restaurants • Bars • Cafes • Ice-cream Parlours 5

6. Castelldefels offers to its visitors, many activities to complete the supply of sun and beach: Populars celebrations Festes del Mar: In S.XVI one of the main reasons for insecurity for the population in the Mediterranean coast, were the pirate attacks. The pirates normally attacked the populations of the coast. In order to face these dangers in year 1550 they built the castle of Castelldefels that has turned, nowadays, the most emblematic symbol of the city. This entailment that Castelldefels always has had with the sea, its projected in the Castelldefels popular celebrations. We have the example in the: “ Festes del Mar” that are celebrated in Castelldefels some days before the festivity of Our Lady of the Carmen. Tourism 6

7. Festa Major d’Estiu The greater celebration of summer, is celebrated in Castelldefels from the 11 to the 15 of august, the activities that we can found are the following: concerts, theatre plays, popular dances, fireworks... Tourism 7

8. The Castle’s Romanesque church Historic – artistic building of interest in which remains can be seen of various different periods including an Iberian Settlement of the 4th century BC, a Roman villa, a primitive Romanesque church of the 10th century and its extensions of the 14th, 16th and 18th centuries, the neoclassical decorations by Francisco Rodriguez, from 1812, and the restorations from the beginning of last century and those that were finished in 1996 as well as graffiti by the ‘brigadistas’ imprisoned here during the Civil War. Tourism 8

9. Prehistoric mines of Gavà Extensive area of mines with more than 70 entrances. Of the network of underground tunnels, the longest as yet explored is some 45 meters long and a part of it is open to the public. Within the complex, there is a reception area with services as well as a marquee in which workshops and studies of prehistory are carried out. The prehistoric mines of Gavà, which date back some 6,000 years (Neolithic, early and middle), are the first testimony to tunneled mining in Europe. Tourism 9

10. The Roman baths at Sant Boi Are the best conserved in all of Catalonia. They were built at the end of the 2nd century AD at a time when the zone was in its splendour. The thermal building was fully functional until the 5th century of the new era.). The baths of Sant Boi are formed by two bodies of parallel buildings. One contains the cold chambers: apodyterium or dressing room and the frigidarium and cella piscinalis (the cold chamber and pool). The other held the hot chambers: tepydarium or tepid chamber, the sudatorium or steam room and the caldarium or hot bath chamber. Along with the discovery of the baths, an amphora production facility was also discovered under the frigidarium, which dates back to 30-20 AD. Tourism 10

11. The Güell Colony The Colonia Güell, a textile estate, was first set up in 1890 on the initiative of Eusebi Güell, a businessman, in the municipality of Santa Coloma de Cervelló. In 1898, Eusebi Güell, commissioned the architect Antoni Gaudí to design a church for the textile estate: Colonia Güell. Finally, in 1908, building work began. However, the ambitious project, it remained unfinished. Despite remaining unfinished, the church represents a high point in Gaudi's work. For the first time, almost all of his architectural innovations are combined in this building. The church on the Colonia Güell was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO on 15 July 2005. Tourism 11

12. Ride Horses Castelldefels is surrounded by equestrian that offers the possibility to ride horses and make beautiful strolls Tourism 12

13. The limestone has created an exotic landscape with its own vegetation, the best known specie, the Mediterranean fan palm. The vineyard shacks and dry-stone walls blend into the white stone and surround the old farmhouses and some of the small villages that are found within the Park. Cal Ganxo, is a municipal environmental centre, situated in the Garraf Natural Park, where we developed environmental activities, like the followings: environmental sensitize activities, recycling activities, Astronomy activities, arqueologycal activities... Garraf Natural Park– Cal Ganxo 13

14. The Castelldefels City hall, with Cal Ganxo, and the the regional government of Barcelona have created three itineraries to know the Garraf Natural Park. This itineraries have different levels of difficulty and also different thematic. Garraf Natural Park 14

15. When the Llobregat river, arrives to the Mediterranean Sea, it forms a delta of 97 km2. Even though the proximity to Barcelona, this delta still conserves one of the three Catalan most important humid zones, considered very important by the European Union. Delta of the Llobregat river Natural Reserve 15