58th Rally Costa Brava: classics

The Costa Brava is known all over for his harmony between sea and mountain, for his wonderful creeks, for his pines hanging of the cliffs... But today we show you her automobilistic face, a tradition that has been held almost 6 decades; we are speaking of the Rally Costa Brava, that this year celebrates his 58ª edition during the days 5 and 6 of November.

Until the past year, the Rally Costa Brava was race puntuable for the Spanish Rally Championship, in which gave appointment so much modern cars and ancient, which propitiate a multitudinous event. Then well, this year, the rally, has conceived like an exclusive appointment for classical cars, the reason to be of the organiser entity (RallyClassics) and worth for the  Historical Championship of Europe. The test will held, besides, all the modalitats reserved to the classics: speed, regularity and regularity sport. 

A year more, the Rally Costa Brava will centre all his logistical activity into Lloret of Mar, with the closed park in the beautiful Maritime Walk and the permanent office, press room and career management to the Hotel Olympic Palace.

It is the only event of this category celebrated in Catalonia and the most ancient rally of Spain. For more information:

http://www.rallycostabrava.com/

http://www.micoche.com/noticiasid.asp?Id=11329

11th September: National Day of Catalonia

September 11th is a big deal in Catalunya and it has absolutely nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. 

This day sits deep in the hearts of Catalans and dates back to 1714, when Catalan forces, after 14 months, fell in the Siege of Barcelona during the final stage of the Spanish Succession War. Having to surrender to troops that fought on behalf of the royal Bourbon monarchy, Barcelona, and all of Catalonia lost their institutions and territorial rights that were governed by the now defunct Crown of Aragon. 

This all started when the region chose to support the Archduke Charles of Austria of Habsburg, fame as the rightful owner to throne of Spain. The Spanish Borbones didn’t happen to agree and, by force, took to ruling over Spain with Philip V becoming the first Bourbon king of the country. 

Today, Diada Nacional de Cataluyna also known as Diada de l’Onze de Setembre, in Catalonia is a day of recognition commemorating a valiant day in the history of the region. Citizens take to the streets draping the Catalan flag (called senyeres or estelades) on their backs singing the Catalan anthem, Els Segadors, which was declared the official national anthem of the region by the Catalan Parliament in 1993. It wasn’t till 1980, after Dictator Franco was dead and all the institutions reinstated, that it declared September 11th an official non-secular holiday in Catalonia. This came after 94 years, when the first recognized commemoration took place. 

The day’s activities are a mixture of politics and pride. Traditionally, the heads of various political parties as well as local residents gather at the monument of Rafael Casanova making a symbolic offering of floral bouquets and Catalan flags in honor of his role in the Siege of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession.

More information:

National Day of Catalonia - Wikipedia

July/August Review Contest Winners

Like we do every month, we raffle a 2-days staying in any of our hotels between all the people who has answered the electronic questionaire.
So the lucky winners of the two past months are:



July: Mrs. Tine Koeneke
August: Mrs. Núria Olmos Farreras


Enjoy it!

Calella, sports tourist destination

Calella has invested heavily in recent years to change tourism model of the city, severely degraded in the past years. These efforts are beginning to bear fruit as evidenced by the annual celebration of the Costa de Barcelona-Maresme Challenge (Ironman). 

Well, next September 4th will be held on the II Calella's Beach Tennis Tournament, in Xiringuito 1, in front of the municipal pool. 

For those who want to participate, registration worth € 13 and all you have to do is send a mail to info@atcalella.org. And for 8 € more you get a menu and drink! 

The awards are weekends in hotels of the population, dinners in restaurants, water parks tickets and much more! 

We're expecting you!

Tossa de Mar and the Volkswagen Beetle

If you like old cars and to enjoy the best Costa Brava, you are lucky because next month will be held in Tossa de Mar, the XVII VW Aircooled Classic Concentration, organized by Friends of Volkswagen of Catalonia. 

Specifically, it will be 24, 25 and 26 September in the lovely village of Tossa de Mar, where our chain has 3 fantastic hotels. During the three days that will last the concentration, you will be able to see the vintage vehicles parked on the waterfront of Tossa de Mar, and attend the various tests carried out by participants. 

The concentration of Tossa de Mar is the result of a love history that began in 1993, when the owner of Sa Palma restaurant of this village gave to his wife a Volkswagen Beetle. Along with this gift, he made the promise to meet in Tossa de Mar more beetles than she could never imagine. With this intention appealed to the beetle owners through the press and radio: more than 100 fans responded, who were presented to Tossa with their cars. Encouraged by the success, decided to make it an anual appointment, so the concentration of Tossa was grow, to become, today, in Volkswagen largest concentration of the country.

For those who are interested in attending, we leave the link to our website, where you can see prices and offers for dates of the concentration.

"Gegants" and "Capgrossos" in Calella

Tradition "gegantera" in Catalonia goes back to the fourteenth century. From year 1391, specifically, are the first written documents which mention this centuries-old tradition. These documents refer to the Corpus Christi procession of Barcelona, where the giants of the time were Biblical figures such as David, Goliath and "Sant Cristòfol." Little recently, the tradition was spreading to all Països Catalans (Valencia and Mallorca) and appeared "capgrossos" and the female giants and, since the XIX century, the tradition went further Corpus to the festivals and carnivals, and the Giants went from be biblical figures to be kings, queens and nobles. 

After a long crisis during the second phase of the Franco dictatorship, the tradition rebounded strongly from the 1980s. People restored and reproduced the old giants, new ones were constructed, "colles" and associations and meetings were created all around Catalonia. These contemporaries giants are made of fiberglass and other lighter materials than traditional. In 1984, the Agrupació de Colles de Geganters of Catalonia was created, which from next year annually appoints a "Gegantera" City of Catalonia.

Well, this year's Giant World's Fair will be held in Calella, on September 25th and 26th, in occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Colla de Geganters i Grallers de Calella. Furthermore, the fair will coincide with the 30th Fira de Calella i l'Alt Maresme, held annually during these dates, which receives each year more than 60,000 visitors. 

More information at:

Agrupació de Colles de Geganters de Catalunya

Gegant - Wikipedia

III Open 4x4 Volleyball Calella

Next July, 31st is the III Open 4x4 Beachvolley in Calella, organized by AVPC (Beachvolley Calella Association).

For those who whant to participate or just watch, you'll find the information in their website:

www.voleicalella.com