Wirdheim in Vilanova

Penedès News in English

2009-07-06T01:19:00.003+02:00

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 Penedès

The 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 Penedès

In 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,

Recommended: the Òscar Estruga Exhibition at La Sala

2009-07-01T00:47:00.003+02:00

I love when Vilanova does the right things at the right time and that is the case with an on-going art exhibition. La Sala – Vilanova’s Centre of Contemporary Art – invites everyone to the cool under its valves at a time when we need a break from the heat outside. And local artist Òscar Estruga deserves to be discovered by everyone who does not yet know his work. His is, among other things, the hand behind Vilanova’s most emblematic piece of public art; the bull Pasífae on the breakwater of the beach Ribes Roges.

“El laberint i la vida” (“the maze and the life”) is the name of this collection of sculptures, paintings, drawings and engravings which allows you to follow Estruga’s 55 years as an active artist. Greek mythology is the dominating theme but you do not need to remember the stories to appreciate the shapes of its characters. Even small children will enjoy this exhibition.

La Sala with the address C/ Joaquim Mir, 12, is easily accessible from the northern part of Vilanova’s Rambla. This exhibition will continue until September 13, entry is free and it is open during the day (11:00-14:00) on Saturdays and Sundays, plus in the evening (18:00-21:00) from Tuesday to Saturday.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Vilanova

Penedès News in English

2009-06-28T16:58:00.005+02:00

Local news from Sitges, Vilanova i la Geltrú and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Gran Penedès

L’Extra – the only news paper which consequently presents the Penedès area as a totality, is making a come-back. Calaix de Sastre, however, will disappear as a separate publication and instead be integrated as event and leisure sections of l’Extra.

Some 200 people turned up at an end-of-semester gathering which the Centre de Normalització Lingüística recently held at the historic monument of Olèrdola. During the education year 2008-09, in total 2.617 adults from Alt Penedès and Garraf have taken part in the Catalan courses. (Xtra)

Garraf

The comarca Garraf registers a reduction of the unemployment rate. From a familiy income perspective, the change only influences 58 people, but it represents a break after 20 months with a negative trend. Sadly enough, the whole improvement can be explained through the jobs created by the government’s financial boost plan (“Pla E” or “pla Zapatero”) and temporary contracts for the summer tourism season. (DdV)

The celebrations of the Nit de Sant Joan were relatively calm. The hospital group of Garraf reported only light burns from firecrackers and 12 cases of alcohol intoxication. However, from midnight and onwards at least the police of Vilanova was constantly busy. One person attacked with a knife was the most serious case of violence, but there was a lot of vandalism, eg. burning waste containers. (DdV)

Tuesday 24, Renfe’s rodalies again challenged the patience of the passengers on line C2-South - connecting Garraf to Barcelona. Due to technical problems, a train stopped near the tunnels between Sitges and Vilanova and those on it had to wait for 1 hour and 40 minutes – without information - before they could continue their journey. (DdV)

Six beaches in Sitges – Sant Sebastià, Balmins, Les Botigues de Sitges, Garraf, la Ribera and la Barra – have obtained ISO 14001 certificates for 2009 in recognition of their cleanliness and life guard services. (DdV)

‘Avui fa un dia Sitges’ - or 'Today is a Sitges Day, in English - is the new tourism slogan of Sitges. It has been created by the company Imagina and is a continuation of earlier ones like “Sitges això és vida” (‘Sitges, this is life’) and “Sitges joia de la Meditànnia” (‘Sitges, the gem of the Mediterranean’). The slogan will be used in a € 80.000 advertising campaign in July, sponsored by Martini (Bacardi Group) and targeting the population of Barcelona. Other initatives will promote Sitges in Bilbao, Zaragoza and Madrid. (DdV)

This summer there will be three computer based information kiosks in Sitges, located at the passeig de la Ribera, la Fragata and the train station. Tourists will be able to print out city maps and find information in Catalan, Spanish, English and French. (DdV)

The PSC government of Sitges would want to reinsate Montserrat Arnau as director of the local Tourism Promotion Agency. She stepped down in April, after the CiU opposition revealed that she did not meet the formal profile of the position. (DdV)

New measurements of the radiation caused by mobile phone antennas in Sant Pere de Ribes and Roquetes prove that levels in the whole inhabited area are 20 to 50 times below the limits set by the Generalitat. Mayor Josep Antoni Blanco indicates that if people continue to talk about health problems, the real issue is a lack of trust in local authorities. (DdV)

The two sides of the river Foix in Cubelles have been united through a new bridge. The construction plans, first made in 2005, were repeatedly delayed and revised since the area is protected for ecologic reasons. (DdV)

The scaffolding which for more than four years has covered a part of the town hall (ajuntament) of Vilanova i la Geltrú has been removed, but the façade renovation work will last until November 2009 and there is not a timeframe for when the building behind will be finalized. (DdV)

Vilanova has introduced a program called La ciutat t’acull ("the town welcomes you") for newcomers; foreigners as well as Spanish nationals. A week ago, at the first session, Mayor Joan Ignasi Elena gave his personal welcome to some 60 participants. (DdV)

Alt Penedès

July 2-3, Vilafranca del Penedès will house a conference called Rutes del Vi ("Wine Routes") in connection with the ViJazz Wine and Jass festival. With the participation of wine chef Joan Roca and speakers from Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, and Portugal, the aim is to consolidate the town as an international wine and cava meeting point. (Xtra)

Last week, the plans of the Cultural Centre of Caixa Penedès – one of Catalonia’s biggest savings banks, with its head office in Vilafranca – were presented. In 2011, it will be opened in C/ Princesa, Barcelona, and it will have a permanent exhibition by artist Josep Maria Subirachs, an exhibition area and an auditorium for 200 people. (Xtra)

With the clogan 'Puja Finet!' – which I would translate as “Climb light” - the Castellers de Vilafranca have started a campaign to win new human towers team members among the secondary school youth. (Xtra)

From July 1, the language institution Servei de Català of Vilafranca and the rest of Alt Penedès will move to a new address: C/ Pere el Gran, 32, 1st floor. (PD)

For the education year 2009-10, a new municipal school of music will open in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, after a fusion of the two current private ones, Escola de Música de la Llar and Racó de la Música. (PD)

This summer, Gelida will see its population grow with 24 children from Belorussia, aged 7-17 years. They will stay for 40 days, the time needed to clean their bodies from the radioactive radiation they are constantly exposed to at home since the 1986 catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear plant (Ukraine). (3d8)

Baix Penedès

In Calafell’s efforts to develop from a mass to quality tourism destination, it has decided to meet the regulations for family friendly tourism destinations (destinació de turisme familiar) set up by the Turisme de Catalunya. The 2009 target for 25% of private hotels and restaurants to be individually certified has been met and the local authorities will provide a kindergarten service on the beach, another one of the requirements. (PD)

A team (colla) of young people in Albinyana, have created and baptized a new fire spitting monster (bèstia). Its name is Nyctalus Alinyanensis and it has found its inspiration in the bats of the cave Vallmajor. (Xtra)

The parties PSC and PP of Cunit have decided to, in 2010, sell municipal property (patrimoni) to a value of € 2,29 millions in order to cut the local budget deficit. The move has been criticized by the ICV opposition. (Xtra)

Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastián has promised to scrutinize Enagas’ work to double the gaz pipeline between Barcelona and Valencia. Farmers along the route from l’Arboç to Barcelona have complained about the impact it has on the irrigation and drainage of their fields. (PD)

Anoia

June 19, at the age of 89, Barcelona born aid worker Vincenç Ferrer passed away in Anantapur, India. Ràdio Igualada and Conca TV were present at the funeral and, as a part of their support for charity work, they will make programs about how the Vicente Ferrer Foundation over 40 years have built 5 hospitals, thousands of schools and medical centres plus some 26.000 houses. (Xtra)

Construction works are being carried out day and night to prevent landslides at a slope near Montaneu. Until the end of July, Lledia bound traffic on A2 - the main highway between Barcelona and Madrid – has to make a detour in this area. (AD)

On Thursday June 25, many parts of the comarca Anoia were surprised by a spectacular hail storm. In Igualada, the biggest hails stones had a diameter of 3 cm. (VD)

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Penedès News in English is a subjective compilation of local news, aimed above all for the expats living in this part of Catalonia but, possibly, interesting also for tourists. The main sources of information are L’Extra (Xtra) (pdf), Vilanova Digital (VD), Sitgesblog (SB), El 3 de Vuit (3d8), Penedès Digital (PD), AnoiaDiari·cat (AD), La Veu Digital (VD) 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, Català, Catalan, Catalonia, Catalunya, CiU, Cunit, Expat, Garraf, Human Towers, Igualada, Penedès, PSC, Sant Sadurní, Sitges, Spain, Vilafranca, Vilanova, Zapatero

The Symbolic Flame of Canigó

2009-06-24T12:39:00.005+02:00

Yesterday, the whole of what many call the Catalan Countries (els països Catalans) celebrated the eve of St John the Baptist (la nit de Sant Joan) with firecrackers and fireworks but, above all, innumerable bonfires. Many of these were lit up by fire literally brought down from the Canigó.

The official English name of the mountain is Canigou, since from a state border perspective it is located in France. However, this part of the Pyrenees used to be Catalan speaking and forms part of Northern Catalonia (Catalunya del Nord). Since the 19th century Renaixança (re-birth) movement, the area has been considered the birth place of the Catalan nation. Among other things, this is where we find the monastery Saint-Martin-du-Canigou (Sant Martí del Canigó) founded by Wilfred II of Cerdanya (Guifré II de Cerdanya), a 10th century count who created links between his lands and Berga, Besalú and Barcelona.

The mountain in itself - located only 50 kilometers from the coast - is symbolic. It presents a sharp flank towards the plains of Roselló which historically made people consider it the highest peak of the Pyrenees (it ‘only’ measures 2.784 m compared with the 3.404 of Pic d’Aneto). In spite of its dramatic look, the Canigó can be accessed by hiking, which explains how, once a year, as many as 30.000 bonfires around the Catalan Countries can originate from here.

To Vilanova i la Geltrú - more precisely to the neighbourhood (barri) named Sant Joan - the fire was brought by a four man committee which, the night before, had lit up their oil lamps with on the bonfire burning at the peak of Canigó. The Falcons and Bordegassos (castellers) of Vilanova celebrated its arrival with human towers and speeches were made by Mayor Joan Ignasi Elena and a representative of the movement Desperta! (Wake Up!). In the latter one, we learnt about the symbolic value of this flame - in Vilanova lighting up a sculpture resembling the map of the Països Catalans – and were reminded to continue our defense of the Catalan language and work to re-unite what is today known as Catalonia, Andorra, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community (país Valèncià) and Northern Catalonia.

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Main source: Wikipedia in Catalan.

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Technorati tags: Barcelona, Castellers, Catalonia, Human Towers, Penedès, Vilanova,

Penedès News in English

2009-06-22T23:27:00.005+02:00

Local news from Sitges, Vilanova i la Geltrú and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Gran Penedès

With in total 200 participants, the Penedesfera Days celebrated in Sant Salvador of El Vendrell June 12-13 was a great success. Microblogging posts related to the meeting (#Penedesfera) occasionally came so frequently that they could be seen on hashtag.org - an international list of the most popular Twitter topics.

Garraf

The road C-31 will see restrictions in the nighttime traffic since road works will be made between Cubelles and Sant Pere de Ribes.

Of the drivers tested in a major alcohol control carried out by the police (Mossos d’Esquadra) in Sitges on June 14, 26% were fined for drunk driving and of these 10% reached criminal levels of alcohol in the blood.

Josep Maria Jornet – famous for his black and white photos of Sitges festivities, but also of landscapes from around the whole world – has passed away at the age of 88 years.

The future of Varo, S.A., in Sant Pere de Ribes is so uncertain that the public authorities will step in and seize assets in order to pay the employees who are still on the payroll, in case the company continues to fail to pay out indemnification to the employees made redundant last year.

Restaurant owners along the beach walk of Cubelles are protesting against how life guard cabins have been put up in such a way that they disturb the sea view and therefore damage business.

Vilanova i la Geltrú is one of the official water sports resorts (estació nàutica) of Catalonia. While the others (l’Estartit and the Medes islands, Palamós and Calogne, Santa Susanna, Costa Daurada and Sant Carles de la Ràpita and the Ebro Delta) offer one-stop-shop web pages for potential tourists, the Vilanova initiative stands out for not even having a co-ordinator, and this in the town which houses the new Vilanova Grand Marina – Barcelona.

Due to the remodelling of Vilanova’s Rambla de la Pau, the little tourist train which goes through the town in the summer will have a new route. It will start at the street Pere Jacas, and make stops in the centre at C/ Unió, C/ Santa Eulàlia, the Rambla Principal, avinguda Francesc Macià, and C/ Josep Coroleu before heading down to the beach Ribes Roges and the Passeig Marítim.

Alt Penedès

The Festa Major of Vilafranca is among the most important cultural treasures of Catalonia and Andorra, according to the organization the Capital of Catalan Culture. The Patum of Berga qualified automatically, since it has been declared immaterial cultural heritage by UNESCO. The other celebrations which were voted into the top-10 of the list are the Day of Sant Jordi, the Sardana, human towers (castellers), the Sant Joan bonfires and the flame from Canigó, the Catholic passion plays, devils’ dance and correfoc, the havaneres of Calella de Palafrugell and the 'Mysterious Light' of Manresa.

La Colla del Mar - a famous band of gralla musicians which have played at all Festa Majors of Vilafranca for the last 29 years - has decided not to continue their activities together.

The construction work of the women’s prison to be built in Sant Llorenç d’Hortons will only be initiated in 2010, since the Zapatero government of Spain and the Catalan Generalitat have not yet agreed on its financing.

The ajuntament of Sant Llorenç protests against how the quart cinturó – a new outer Barcelona ringroad – as of the so called Metropolitan Territory Plan would cut this municipality into two halves.

Baix Penedès

A Calafell inhabitant has been released with charges while 14 other members of an international criminal organization have been imprisoned. The investigations have connected the group to counterfeiting and money laundry as well as trying to smuggle cocaine to Spain by hiding it inside frozen fish from Uruguay.

The only elephant of the animal park Aqualeón at Albinyana, Yoyo, will move to the zoo of Barcelona, where a fellow African elephant - Susi - needs company to get over a depression. Yoyo has lived at Aqualeón for 30 years - after having been rescued from a circus - and to make him feel welcome in Barcelona, the space reserved for elephants has been doubled.

Anoia

For the strong support among the local inhabitants, the Generalitat has decided that Catalonia’s corporate airport will be developed at the Igualada-Òdena aerodrome, currently used for sports aviation and fire fighting. The operation of the airport might be contracted to a private company. With a public investment of € 90 million, the plan is that by the end of 2012, it will be able to match Farborough of London or Le Bourget of Paris.

The political parties CiU, PP and ERC of Igualada have voted for the municipality to belong to the Penedès, when the vegueria reform is carried out. The Platform for a Separate Vegueria tried to unite all party groups behind a project in favour of following the comarques Alt Penedès and Garraf, whether they in the future will belong to the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona or the Penedès. Such a decision would have been a clear signal that Anoia does not want to be in the Central Vegueria, as of current plans, but it was not taken since PSC and ICV ruling Igualada did not support it.

A large number of mayors of Anoia municipalities have made a joint inquiry to the Generalitat, to learn what will be the role of the comarca after the vegueria reform and which decentralized services could be allocated to Igualada.

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Other media do not seem to want to comment on it, but as far as I can see the news service l’Extra and the event magazine El Calaix de Sastre – both aiming to cover the whole of the Gran Penedès – have ceased to exist.

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Penedès News in English is a subjective compilation of local news, above all aimed for expats living in this part of Catalonia but, possibly, also interesting for tourists. My main sources of information are Vilanova Digital, Sitgesblog, El 3 de Vuit, Penedès Digital, AnoiaDiari·cat, La Veu Digital plus the print versions of the Diari de Vilanova. 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, Expat, Festa Major, Garraf, Human Towers, Igualada, Penedès, Penedesfera, PSC, Sitges, Spain, el Vendrell, Vilafranca, Vilanova, Zapatero

On the Penedesfera Days 2009, in English

2009-06-19T10:43:00.010+02:00

June 12-13, a large number of bloggers from the Penedès area went to Sant Salvador – a beach resort in El Vendrell (Baix Penedès) – and the 2nd Pendesfera Days (jornades de la Penedesfera). With over 500 member blogs, the Penedesfera is the biggest geographically defined network of its kind in Catalonia. If last year’s event in Gelida served as a first physical meeting point between its members then, this time, the modern auditorium within the classic Vil·la Casals transmitted that we have become an established phenomenon.

With a reference to the location, Penedesfera founder Daniel García Peris opened the session by quoting Pau Casals. In 1971, when the composer of the “Hymn to the United Nations” received the UN’s peace medal, he took the opportunity to address the assembly as an ambassador of the Catalan people. I am confident that Casals - a native of the Penedès - would consider the Penedesfera a good 21st century manifestation of his culture.

The jornades de la Penedesfera is built up by panel discussions and, this year, the first one was on “How Modern Communication Tools Transform Politics”, organized and moderated by Gemma Urgell and Ricard Espelt. Here, Izakun Bilbao, Ex-President of the Basque Parliament, won the admiration of the audience for how her party PNV has made it easier for people to reach their politicians. Ernest Benach, President of the Catalan Parliament, did his best to show that he and his colleagues are equally sophisticated, but somehow did not manage to convince me. Possibly, I know Catalan politics a bit too well to be fooled by a nice presentation.

The other part of the Friday program was “To Be Present on the Internet you First Have to Get There”, where Raül Buira moderated in a group of telecommunication experts. Their discussion did not reach far before the audience entered into a “Spain and Catalonia bashing mode”. Now, that was expected: why, after all, are broadband connections here more expensive and still slower than in most other EU countries?

Saturday morning started with the serious question about “The Present and Future of Mass Media”. Sergi Sabaté moderated in a group of people who did not only have things to say, but also knew how to make a point. Salvador Cot (the Terrassa and Sabadell editions of Avui) and Joan Raventós (el 3 de Vuit of Vilafranca) represented traditional media working to build a future on the web, while Carles Castro (Vilanova Digital) and Bernat Ferrer (AnoiaDiari.cat) represented the many modern news services which do not offer a print version. Finally, Xavier Güell from Tendencias.tv proudly presented his media channel; highly popular but not employing one single person with a formal title in journalism. And that must have been where an old-school journalist in the audience could not take it any longer but had to protest. However, after having defended the investigating version of his profession, he added that bloggers tend to intrude into “his territory” and rapidly turned all other participants against him.

After this followed a session on how to make use of “the Internet, Against the Crisis”, of which I plan to see the video recording, since I unfortunately had to leave for some hours. For the same reason, I missed the “Penedès inspired lunch” – a true pity for the wonderful garden where it was served.

I came back just in time for Sonia Diaz Suriol’s and Sylvie Pérez’ workshop on “Videoblogs and Other 2.0 Tools”. Some day I will have to look into the quality of my own clips on YouTube, and then the activities of Jesus Ferre, Ravennius and ZitunLog can serve as models.

The next part - “MySpace and Other Tools to Spread Music”, organised by Josep Guillén and Guillem Carol – came to focus on a question similar to the one about mass media, i.e. what incentives are there for quality work and effort when people expect everything to be free. The musicians present - Lax’n Busto ('Començar' etc) and Búhos – did not seem to worry very much. The Búhos gave examples of how their Barça song about Messi, thanks to the Internet, had made them famous in Argentina and concluded that what is suffering from current changes is the old music industry, not music as a cultural expression.

The last item of the program about “Wine and Cava: Challenges on the Internet” was the first event which the team “Cava&Twitts” organized outside the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Here, the cool “London, Berlin, New York, El Penedès, Shanghai” t-shirts which they had printed for the occasion, initially distracted the audience from being critical, but soon it found an excuse for self-flagellation, which resulted in comments like “why are we Catalans so poor in promoting our wines and the other good things we produce?”.

The Búhos rounded off the Second Penedesfera Days with a spontaneously created song. To sum up, I think that this event served as a status report on where Catalan society stands and although many participants of this meeting think that we have a lot to work on, it is a fact that on the Internet, the use of Catalan is much more vital than that of many much bigger languages.

From a more personal point of view, this was when I finally saw the benefits of becoming a Twitter user. A screen in the auditorium showed a real-time summary of the latest up-dates and that created a meta-discussion - sometimes a comment on something said by the participants of the different panels, but just as often a publicly displayed reaction on an earlier comments. Take a look at #penedesfera and you will see what I mean.

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To my wife, who is afraid that I put blogging ahead of business: Yes, I did a lot of active guerrilla marketing. Everyone present at Vil·la Casals received samples of my products and that, in turn, resulted in an article in Directe.cat. Finally, the news that RFSU is the first commercial brand which labels its condoms in Catalan has reached beyond the Penedès.

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Technorati tags: Barcelona, Catalan, Catalonia, Penedès, Penedesfera, Spain,el Vendrell, Vilanova

Exceptional Corpus with the Giants of Vilanova

2009-06-17T14:22:00.003+02:00

On the Sunday after Corpus Christi we usually go to Sitges to admire the artistically decorated streets, but this year we could enjoy elaborated flower carpets (catifes de flors) at home. The accounts of Vilanova’s Sant Antoni Abat church reveal that, in 1709, the parish paid for a new coat of paint for the giants, in order to make them look nice for the corpus procession. To celebrate the 300th anniversary of that first written record of our local giants, the geganters of our days had decided to recreate the event.

In the morning, associations related to popular culture made pictures of the giants in the squares of historic Vilanova. The huge one on the plaça de les Cols was designed by Òscar Estruga – the artist behind the emblematic sculpture Pasífae on the beach Ribes Roges – and stood out for its warm colours. However, like all the others it was destroyed in the early evening when the tall Gegant de la Porra and his equally tall wife - Geganta Grossa - followed by la Boja – the town’s biggest mulassa – performed a dances on top of it.

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This summer, la Sala will house a retrospective Òscar Estruga exhibition and, early August, during Vilanova’s festa major, old giants from all around Catalonia will come here for the baixada dels gegants.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Festa Major, Vilanova

Penedès Stick Dancers in a Get-Together at les Roquetes

2009-06-17T13:08:00.004+02:00

As a geographical continuation of Vilanova i la Geltrú – but administratively belonging to Sant Pere de Ribes - we find les Roquetes de Garraf. This year, the local agrupació de balls populars celebrates its 35th anniversary; quite an achievement since it was started from scratch. From a Catalan perspective, les Roquetes is a society of newcomers; people from Andalucía and other parts of Spain who moved here looking for jobs around Barcelona. That is what Josep Guillén (representant del Penedès de la Coordinadora de Ball de Bastons) had in mind when he proposed that, on June 6, the first trobada bastonera of our part of Catalonia was to be celebrated here.

The get-together started with two cercaviles (performance parades) through the centre, followed by joint dance performances of the so called pavana and boja at the square la Vinya d’en Petaca. After that the bastoners of les Roquetes had invited all the 250 participants to an anniversary dinner.

The bastoners of Igualada made their first public appearances on this occasion and fascinated the audience with music played on a violin instead of traditional gralles. With 9 colles (teams) from Garraf, 5 from Alt Penedès, and 2 each from Baix Penedès and Anoia, respectively, (plus one from Castelldefels) the event served as a non-political reminder of the unity of what might one day become the Vegueria Penedès.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Garraf, Igualada, Independence, Penedès, Spain, Vilanova

Penedès News in English

2009-06-16T12:01:00.005+02:00

Local news from Sitges, Vilanova i la Geltrú and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Gran Penedès

A majority of the electorate in the Penedès area did not bother to vote in the elections to the European parliament and in general people here have voted in line with the rest of Catalonia; leaving PSC in the position as the strongest party but revealing an increased support for CiU. Find here the municipal results for Sitges, Sant Pere de Ribes, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Vilafranca del Penedès, El Vendrell, Calafell and Igualada, respectively. The PSC of Garraf/Alt Penedès partly blames the low voter turnout on the fact that prime minister Zapatero still does not comply with the autonomy charter of Catalonia (l'estatut) – an initiative supported by his own PSOE government – neither by presenting a new model for tax revenue allocation between the autonomous regions of Spain (nou finançament autonòmic) nor by handing over agreed competencies from the state to the regional level.

The Denominació d’Origen Penedès will further develop into a quality label by raising the test requirements and fees for its members. The general rule will be that a winery can not belong to D.O. Penedès and D.O. Cava at the same time and that lower quality wines will have to make do with the label D.O. Catalonia.

Garraf

A survey carried out by the Cambra de Barcelona has revealed that Garraf lags behind in standard of living, partially because this comarca, during the years 2004-08, has lead the population growth of Catalonia (average annual increases of 3,6%, followed by Alt Penedès at 3,4%). Garraf is well behind the average figures of Barcelona as well as the rest of Catalonia when you look at the number of education and geriatric centres or hospital beds per capita.

The ajuntament of Sitges has carried out substantial investments in pump stations in order to improve the drainage and prevent the bad smell of residual water. At the same time, the capacity of the underground rainwater channels has been increased, which will reduce the amount of water in the streets d’Espalter and Espanya during coming torrential rains.

Actress Anna Barrachina will present Sitges as her favourite place in the June 16 program of “El millor paisatge de Catalunya” on TV3.

Through the Pacte per la mobilitat, Jordi Baijet, PSC mayor of Sitges, plans to open a dialogue on public transport, traffic safety and parking areas. Starting in September, the ajuntament will invite the local population to round table discussions.

Luis Enriquez, a Swiss-born businessman with Spanish parents, will set up an association of companies which promote Sitges to homosexual and transsexual tourists, work to bring back gay floats to the carnival procession and, in 2010, launch a Pride Sitges festival. This year, Sitges will be represented with a stand at l’aviguda de Maria Cristina during Pride Barcelona.
An entity promoting the heritage of Sitges will re-launch annual issues of the magazine L’Amic de les Arts, historically headed by local author Josep Carbonell and with famous contributors such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró and Frederico García Lorca. The aim of the magazine will be to explore Sitges’ heritage and its role in the cultural life of modern Catalonia.

The company Varo, S.A. of Sant Pere de Ribes risks to face a seizure of assets since it has not paid the € 1,4 million of indemnification which it owes to 43 employees laid off last year. The company has filed for bankruptcy and claims to have problems to pay salaries to the 60 people still on its payroll, but the trade unions protest that the management could improve cash flow by selling unused parts of the premises.

It has been discovered that two fires which, in May, broke out in a home for elderly people in Cubelles were caused on purpose by a new co-worker of the establishment.

After 14 days on strike, the workers of Prysmian in Vilanova i la Geltrú have gone back to work. While 228 of them voted to do so, 200 wanted to continue the strike. The conflict has resulted in a bitter situation where the president of the work council, Cristòfol Fabre of the trade union CCOO has decided to step down since he felt that one of the other unions (UGT) got cold feet after the management’s warnings that they would take legal action against any leader who supported the strike.

Naturists living around Vilanova will not any longer have to go to Barcelona for indoor swimming. Starting on June 28, the municipal pool will reserve a time slot for those who prefer to swim naked.

The local police of Vilanova has been reinforced with eleven employees, in order to stop the sales of fake branded goods (top manta).

Alt Penedès

After a meeting in Madrid, CiU mayor Pere Regull is quite confident that Vilafranca del Penedès will reach and agreement with ADIF (l’Administrador d’Infrastuctures Ferroviàries) on compensation to repair cracks in house walls and reduce noise levels. ADIF claims that the vibrations caused by the high-speed train AVE’s passage through the town centre are within acceptable standards, but has agreed to finance a noise reduction wall in the areas Poble Nou and la Girada, where it is not.

Sunday June 14, in Cornellà (Baix Llobregat), the Castellers of Vilafranca presented the best human towers so far this year, completing a ‘4 by 8 dismantled via a pillar (4 de 8 amb l’agulla)’ and a ‘pillar’ of six levels.

Baix Penedès

The consell comarcal has created a new logotype for Baix Penedès – a map built up by grape coloured circles, underlining the location along the coast.

The railway infrastructure administrator ADIF is currently replacing some 6.000 cross beams between Calafell and Sant Vicenç de Calders, as a part of the project to improve the standards of Rodalies (the commuter trains) of Barcelona.

A noise reduction barrier will be erected where the toll motorway AP-7 makes its passage over the area Barri d’en Mas d’en Gual (El Vendrell).

The secondary school l’Institut de Segur (Calafell) which until now has been in provisional premises, will in 2010 receive its own building in C/Brasil.

Anoia

The official cadastre values of real estate in Vilanova del Camí and Ódena will be revised since they have been discovered to be far higher than those of neighbouring Igualada, due to the fact that the latest revision was made in 2007, at the peak of the property boom. The cadastre values influence property taxes and, possibly, the private income tax of the owner. However, a coming reduction will not result in dramatic tax cuts since the increase from 2007 has not yet been passed on fully.

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Penedès News in English is a subjective compilation of local news, above all aimed for the expats living in this part of Catalonia but, possibly, also interesting for tourists. My main sources of information are Vilanova Digital, Sitgesblog, Penedès Digital, AnoiaDiari·cat, the pdf-version of l’Extra plus the print versions of the Diari de Vilanova and 7 Dies. 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, Estatut, Expat, Garraf, Human Towers, Igualada, Penedès, PSC, PSOE, Sitges, el Vendrell, Vilafranca, Vilanova, Zapatero

Penedès News in English

2009-06-07T01:42:00.003+02:00

Local news from Sitges, Vilanova i la Geltrú and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Gran Penedès

Penedesfera – the blogger network of the Penedès region– recently listed its 500th member blog and is nowadays the biggest network of its kind in Catalonia.

The print newspapers of the Penedès see falling revenues from advertising but some of them can at least celebrate that their number of readers are growing. El Diari de Vilanova is Catalonia’s biggest weekly newspaper in Catalan (45.000 readers/week) and Tres de Vuit of Vilafranca is number two (31.000 readers/week).

ADEG – the Penedès business association (Associació d’Empresaris del Garraf i el Penedès) - has created a new section for young entrepreneurs. Joves d’Empresa is its name and since it has been born in times of crisis it will focus on so called 'Low Cost Networking'.

Some 3.000 people whose special needs renders them the right to assistance at home will receive a better service. The Diputació de Barcelona has decided to allocate one support car to Vilafranca, from where it will cover the comarques Alt Penedès and Garraf.

Garraf

The Metropolitan area of Barcelona investigates building a major waste incinerator at Vallcarca. The Ajuntament of Sitges disagrees with these plans, not only since they come as a surprise, but also because of the consequences they would have on the natural reserve Parc del Garraf.

To guarantee the future of the two big social clubs of Sitges - la Societat Recreativa El Retiro and el Casino Prado - the Ajuntament has decided to grant them direct financial support of € 10.000 plus (a lot more) for the cultural activities they carry out.

The ecologic supermarket chain Veritas has opened up a branch at the Passeig de Vilafranca of Sitges.

The forum Cercle d’Economia (the Circle of Economy) will keeps its annual meetings in Sitges for at least another three years. This years’ edition could present José Montilla, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, among the speakers.

During weekends and holidays from May 30 until September 11, Renfe will increase the number of trains to the beach destinations Garraf and Platja de Castelldefels. During peak hours there will be one connection every 30 minutes.

The hospital Sant Camil of Sant Pere de Ribes has started the construction works of a new parking area for 400 cars. During the summer the same hospital will temporarily close two of its floors, but that will not have unforeseen effects on service levels since the number of programmed interventions always go down during the vacation period.

During the celebrations of FC Barcelona’s victory of the Champion’s League, 28-year old Óscar Alpuente from Cubelles was hit by a rubber bullet, which caused serious damage to one of his eyes. His relatives’ claim that the police shot from a too short distance and above the waistline contradicts the findings of the investigation by the Generalitat de Catalunya, which concluded that the police acted as of protocol.

The Ajuntament of Vilanova i la Geltrú takes the help school pupils in the fight against the mosquit tigre (‘tigre mosquito’). Avoiding accumulations of standing water in balconies and gardens has proved a successful way to limit the spread of its eggs.

Vilanova does from now on have a 24 hour taxi service (telephone: 93 893 32 41).

Vilanova currently promotes Attic’09 – the International Fair of New Ideas and Inventions – at the shopping centre l’Illa in Barcelona through a machine which promises to deliver “ideas which make you smile” to anyone who inserts € 0,50.

The Vilanova based company Megarubber, which let 51 of its workers leave permanently as late as February this year, has presented a temporary work stop affecting 127 workers during 120 days.

The situation at the Vilanova company Prysmian, which last week learnt that the Generalitat would not approve its plans for a work force reduction (ERO), has responded by firing 19 employees without negotiations, although that means that they will have to pay them a full indemnification. The trade unions, in return, claim that this is illegal and workers on strike are therefore blocking all entrances to the company.

Alt Penedès

The wine Sant Valentí by wine producer Miguel Torres of Vilafranca del Penedès can again be sold in Norway. With sales of 200.000 bottles per year, this is one of the most popular white wines in that country, but the sales of it was recently stopped after one person was seriously sick after drinking it. However, Norwegian police has been able to confirm that the wine was poisoned and is confident to have found the perpetrator.

After a meeting with ADIF, the two socialist members of the parliament of Catalonia Daniel Fernández and Sixte Moral, claim that the company responsible for railway infrastructure will repair all cracks which the construction of a railway tunnel under the town might have caused in Vilafranca.

Sociologist Llorenç Casanova (29) has accepted the duty to be the second local councillor of the political party CUP in Vilafranca. He replaces Otger Amatller who has stepped down for family reasons.

Baix Penedès

Starting in September, the renovation works of the theatre in El Vendrell, la Lira vendrellenca, will enter into into their final phase.

The Ajuntament of Calafell will allow the Generalitat to use two antennas – one located on the mountain Bellamar and the other one in the centre of Segur de Calafell – in order to improve the mobile phone and digital TV coverage.

Anoia

The Catalan minister of internal affairs (Conseller d’Interior) Joan Saura (ICV-EUiA) has officially declared the extended firestation of Igualada open. Just in time for the peak season of forest fires, eight new fire trucks have been added.

The public healthcare of Igualada takes part in a pilot project with electronic prescriptions, in which patients do not have to bring signed paper copies to the pharmacy since all authorizations are available on-line.

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Penedès News in English is a compilation of local news, above all aimed for the expats living in this region but, possibly, also interesting for tourists. My main sources of information are Vilanova Digital, Sitgesblog, Penedès Digital, the pdf-version of l’Extra plus the print versions of the Diari de Vilanova. All opinions expressed are my own.

Earlier editions can be found under the label Penedès News.

An introduction into the political party system of Catalonia can be found here.

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Technorati tags: Barcelona, Barça, Calafell, Catalonia, Expat, Garraf, Igualada, Penedès, Penedesfera, PSC, Sant Sadurní, Sitges, el Vendrell, Vilafranca, Vilanova

The 'Wirdheim in Vilanova' Event Calendar - July 2009

2009-06-02T01:00:00.004+02:00

July, 3-5; Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf): La Medusa organises the music festival Faraday on the platja del Far. Among the bands which will play we find The Divine Comedy, The Lucksmiths, Joe Crepúsculo and New Raemon. On July 5, the concerts will be on the beach and for free.

July, 3-5; Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès): Vijazz – Catalonia’s main wine and jazz festival.

July, 10; Cunit (Baix Penedès): Festa Major de Sant Cristófol

July 10; Vilanova i la Geltrú; Sardana dancing at the Ermita de Sant Cristòfol, behind the Platja de Far. 19:00-21:00

July, 11-12; La Granada (Alt Penedès); Festa Major - most likely with a high profile castellers meeting.

July, 14; Sitges (Garraf): A day of Dance (Dies de Dansa): 19:00-21:30 at la Fragata.

July, 17-19; Vilanova i la Geltrú; FIMPT – the International Folk and Traditional Music Festival (Festival internacional de música popular i tradicional) - with Diego el Cigala and Omara Portuondo among the most famous artists.

July, 17-24; Cubelles (Garraf): Festival de Música de Cubelles. A music festival, organized for the first time, targeting children, young people and their families.

July, 25-28; El Vendrell (Baix Penedès): Festa Major 2009.

July, 26; Vilafranca del Penedès: ‘Vilafranca and the Wine Spirit’ – a guided tour (assumedly in Catalan) to places related to the wine industry.

July, 27-31; Vilanova i la Geltrú: Soft start of the Festa Major

Exhibitions:

'El laberint i la vida'; exhibition by Òscar Estruga at LaSala.

'Giants from Museums' at the Victor Balaguer Museum, Vilanova i la Geltrú. The Vilanova giants celebrate their 300th anniversary – this exhibition shows other old Catalan giants. From July 18 to August 1.

'Photos of the Giants of Vilanova' at the Sala Toc (C/ Caputxins), Vilanova i la Geltrú. From July 25 to August 9.

General information:

The event calendar is a presentation of events where I will go - or at least hope to be able to go - centered around Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf) and the rest of the Penedès area in Catalonia. If you are interested in a certain date, please, send me a question in a comment or, alternatively, come back to this entry. It will be up-dated whenever I learn about new things and here information about what will happen tends to come late.

Wirdheim in Vilanova will to the greatest extent possible refer to official pages (usually in Catalan) for information on the time and location of events and can unfortunately not guarantee to present the latest up-dates or changes of program.

For castellers (human tower) performances outside the Penedès area, please, refer to the tag Agenda Castellera at the Coordinadora de les Colles Castelleres de Catalunya, or the Calendari at LaMalla.cat/castellers.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Garraf, Penedès, Vilanova

Circus Festival Trapezi Vilanova 2009

2009-06-01T00:05:00.004+02:00

The budget for the circus festival Trapezi/Vilanova’09 was € 119.000 compared to € 147.000 last year and I think that was a sensible cut. Although I hope that, in the future, this town will be able to recuperate its full historic circus profile, I accept that this year of crisis and rising unemployment figures is not the time to do so.

And in spite of the cost savings, I enjoyed Trapezi as much as ever and consider myself very fortunate to – totally by chance – have moved to a town where once a year I can see quality circus in the streets of the town. So far, I have not seen any visitor statistics, but from my own observations I would say that there were more spectators this year than in 2008. Can it be that, when money is tight, we are all more inclined to choose entertainment which is ‘for free’?

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Find here a an entry on the background of Trapezi, in Reus and in Vilanova i la Geltrú.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Circus, Vilanova

Penedès News in English

2009-05-30T17:44:00.004+02:00

Local news from Vilanova i la Geltrú, Sitges and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Gran Penedès

The farmers' union Unió de Pagesos warns that, this year, there will be a poor wine harvest in the Denominació d’Origen (D.O.) Penedès but that, in spite of this, there will be a surplus of grapes since the wineries experience drops in demand.

The parliament of Catalonia has approved a proposition by Joan Raventós (CiU) that the xarel·lo – a kind of grape with its origins in the Penedès and Alella – gets a special focus in future strategic plans for the D.O. Penedès.

Garraf

Josep Lluís Giménez Sevilla, the general director of Aucat (the Abertis group) admits that the discounts available to daily commuters on the highway C-32 (connecting Garraf to Barcelona) are not enough promoted. Those who have the payment device Via-T and, between Monday and Friday, pass the Vallcarca toll station eight times or more, receive close to a 50% price reduction.

At a ceremony in Sitges, the Diputació de Barcelona selected Ràdio Cubelles (Cubelles) and its program Barreja’t amb mi as the best radio show in towns with less than 15.000 inhabitants and Canal Blau (Vilanova) and its Leit Nait Shou the best TV program in towns with more than 50.000 people. Jordi Baijet (PSC), mayor of Sitges, took the opportunity to pay homage to 88 year old Josep Soler who for more than 50 years has headed up the local newspaper Eco de Sitges (Sitges).

The many road works in the centre of Vilanova i la Geltrú will continue throughout the peak tourism season since they need to be finalized before December 31, 2009. If not, the Spanish government will have the right to retain 30% of the funds committed as of Zapatero’s Plan E, the purpose of which is to boost employment.

The labour department of the Generalitat of Catalonia has not accepted the filing for a work force reduction (ERO - expedient de regulació d’ocupacio) by Prysmian of Vilanova. Allegedly, the plans presented by the company do not justify laying of 22 workers too young for early retirement.

A public auditory for up to 400 people will be built at the plaça de la Moixiganga of Vilanova, in connection with the Music Conservatory Mestre Montserrat. The works will start this autumn and are to be completed early 2011.

Near the Camping Vilanova Platja, the company Diver Sabio wants to construct what they call an educational amusement park for children from five to twelve years old. The ajuntament has requested a financial viability study of the project.

Environmentally and quality minded people might want to try La Salseta (C/ Sant Pau) in Sitges. This restaurant, by brothers Valentí and Toni Mongay, is being operated according to the rules of Quilomètre Zero de Slow Food a Espanya, which determines that a high degree of the ingredients must come from local farms or, at least, be classified as ecologic produce.

After eight months of remodelation works, the beach Sant Sebastià, Sitges, will re-open on June 20. The parking lots have been replaced by a wide pedestrian area and all restaurants will have brown parasols and awnings in order to create a unified image in line with the landscape.

Alt Penedès

The new local government of Vilafranca del Penedès under Pere Regull (CiU), warns that its first municipal budget, to be presented June 16, will be austere. It will not take into account revenue from municipal land yet to be sold, something it accuses the former PSC government to have done for the last five years.

The Diputació of Barcelona has approved investments of € 1.100.000 in Gelida, with the objective to improve road access to the residential areas Martivell and el Puig i la Valenciana.

The ajuntament of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia has started a campaign to remind dog owners of their responsibilities to keep their pets leashed and that not collecting their excrements can result in fines up to € 500. May all Catalan towns immediately do the same.

Although there are 1.050 FC Barcelona fan clubs in the world, so far Vilafranca has not had any. Already before have the culers of the town gathered at Cal Figarot, the premises of the Castellers de Vilafranca to enjoy Barça games together, but since May 20, the Penya Barcelonista Castellers de Vilafranca is an officially recognised fan club and open to anyone interested.

Baix Penedès

In June, the construction works of a public Primary Care Centre (CAP – Centre d’Atenció primaria) will start in the area la Plana of Cunit.

The ajuntament of el Vendrell and local companies have set up the network Xarxa Emprenedora in order to foster the creation of more businesses and facilitate points of contact for new entrepreneurs.

L’Arboç will be the first town in the whole of Spain to offer public wifi-coverage throughout the municipality.

Being a Swede, I am proud to recognise the yellow battery from IKEA in the Festa Major poster of el Vendrell 2009. The designer Francesc Trillo’s message is for people to participate in this festivity to the point of “wearing it out” (“esgota la”).

Anoia

In Igualada there seem to be a complete disagreement among local politicians about to which future vegueria the current capital of Anoia is to belong. The latest official plan puts it in the vegueria Catalunya Central, but about a year ago a local majority signed it up to the project of a separate vegueria Penedès. This week, however, PSC and ICV decided to benefit from the absence of one ERC candidate and vote through that the town ought to belong to the vegueria de Barcelona. On the other hand, CiU of Igualada has decided to bet on two horses at the same time: the party line is to support the vegueria Penedès but at the same time they demand for the vegueria Central to locate more of its public offices (delegacions) in Igualada.

A development centre for children with special needs and up to six years old has been opened by the ajuntament of Masquefa in co-operation with the NGO Apinas (Associació de pares igualadins de nens i adolescents subdotats).

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Penedès News in English is a personal compilation of facts from the digital news services Vilanova Digital, Sitgesblog, Penedès Digital, the pdf-version of l’Extra plus the print versions of the Diari de Vilanova and 7 Dies. All opinions expressed are my own.

Earlier editions can be found under the label Penedès News.

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Technorati tags: Barcelona, Barça, Catalonia, CiU, Cunit, Festa Major, Garraf, Igualada, Penedès, PSC, Sant Sadurní, Sitges, Spain, el Vendrell, Vilafranca, Vilanova

How Vilanova Celebrated that Barça Won the Champions’ League of 2009

2009-05-28T02:56:00.007+02:00

The year of 2009 already forms part of Catalan football history – it was the year when FC Barcelona under coach Josep (Pep) Guardiola managed to win all three titles at stake; the Spanish King’s Cup, the Spanish premier league (Copa del Rei and la Lliga, respectively, in Catalan) and the Champions’ League. Tonight we are all singing “Copa, Lliga i Champions” to the melody of “We will rock you” but the celebrations will continue for a long time. Because Vilanova i la Geltrú - like the rest of Catalonia – needs this as a break in order to forget about rising unemployment figures and what feels like a never-ending financial crisis.

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Find here the links to my entries on the earlier 2009 celebrations outside la Penya Barcelonista of Vilanova: la Copa del Rei and la Lliga.

Those of us who live in Catalonia, during the coming days we will hear the new Barça songs played on the radio time after time. Find here translations of the lyrics to Boig per tu and Porto el Barça.

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Related Media: LaVanguardia (SPA), Avui (CAT) and Dagens Nyheter (SWE).

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Technorati tags: Barça, Catalonia, Penedès, Vilanova

How Vilanova Watched Barça Win the Champions’ League of 2009

2009-05-28T02:22:00.004+02:00

Since I am more of a Barça spirit fan than a football fan, I decided to try to capture how Vilanova lived the Champions’ League final 2009, between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Little did I know what a great celebration it would be in the end. Here is what I saw.

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Technorati tags: Barça, Catalonia, Penedès, Vilanova

Penedès News in English

2009-05-24T15:56:00.002+02:00

Local news from Vilanova i la Geltrú, Sitges and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Gran Penedès

The Institut d’Estudis Pendesencs has celebrated its Festa de la Cultura with official acknowledgements to individuals and organizations for contributing to local culture. This year prizes were given to the Plataforma de la Vegueria Pròpia (cultural promotion), the Sitges Folk Dance association (track record and commitment), the historian Joan Santacana (research) and paint artist María Assumpció Raventós (arts).

On May 18, restaurant owner Oriol Llavina was elected the new embassador of the Xató route (la Ruta del Xató). During the 2009 season (now over) 13.900 portions of this fish sallad have been served at seven xatonades populars and to promote the tradition – shared by the comarques of the Penedès - to tourists, a new web-page has been created.

Enoturisme Penedès, a consortium which puts together theme programs for those who want to explore the Denominació d’Origen Penedès, will start to collect data on how important wine related tourism is to this area.

The radio program “Toc d’Hoquei” by Sergi Sabaté and Marc Pijuan, and with the collaboration of Guillem Carol, has been awarded the innovation prize by 'Radio Associació'. This program on the Catalan dominated sport roller hockey started in the Penedès area but nowadays collaborates with and is being broadcast by 15 radio stations throughout Catalonia and Valencia.

Garraf

From June 1, the authorities will start to fine those who exceed the variable speed limits on the highways C-31 and C-32, the two roads connecting Garraf with Barcelona. The objective of the variable speed limits is to reduce pollution by evening out the traffic flow.

After 14 months, the road works on C-31 (la carretera de les Costes de Garraf, between Sitges and Castelldefels) have been completed. This curvy road is now safer and has been equipped with several rest points, some of them at scenic locations. However, since you are not any longer allowed to overtake, daily commuters complain that they need more time to reach work in the metropolitan area.

Sant Camil in Ribes, the main hospital of the comarca Garraf, sees a sharp increase of people in its emergency unit due to a growing and ageing population. The average waiting time before a patients sees a doctor is now 45 minutes. To avoid a collapse, from July 1, 15 beds until now reserved for long-term stays will be taken over by the emergency service.

Vilanoví actor Sergi López competed in the International Film Festival of Cannes this year. He plays a wine shop owner in the thriller Mapa dels sons de Tòquio by the Catalan director Isabel Coixet.

Vilanoví Enric Duran has achieved a € 50.000 bail and will be able to leave prison while awaiting his trial. Last year this young man gained international fame for having managed to fake guarantees and take loans of in total € 492.000 in 39 banks and then give all the money to charity.

The renovation works of the façade of the Victor Balaguer Museum in Vilanova will start in July and are planned to be finished in November.

The Festa Major committee (pabordes) of Vilanova has presented its official web-page, designed by Joan Ignasi Gómez.

Actor and director Jordi Picó will be the artistic director of the Teatre Principal of Vilanova, when it re-opens the coming autumn.

The Mossos d’Esquadra have caught a 31 year old foreign citizen in the act during a break-in into a villa. He is suspected to have committed another six burglaries in Sant Pere de Ribes and Olivella during the last three months, since they all follow the same modus operandi.

Recently, there have been many protests against the effects the mobile phone antennas in Roquetes might have on public health and the ajuntament of Ribes has therefore decided to make a plan for their re-location.

The ajuntament of Sitges reassures all citizens that there are not any health risks related to the new crematorium, to be completed in July, and underlines that it is modern installation which meets all environmental standards.

Sitgetana journalist Isabel Gemio has received the Doctor Benaprès prize for the work her foundation does in medical research of muscular dystrophy and other uncommon diseases.

The number of families which receive charity packages from Caritas in Sitges has doubled to 120 in the last few months and its food bank is now below minimum levels. Support from more well-off inhabitants is highly welcome.

Alt Penedès

Through the public company GISA, the Generalitat has opened the tender process for the construction of a new fire station in Vilafranca del Penedès. When the move can take place, the current building will be transformed into Vilafranca’s second public library and a community centre (centre civic).

The Falcons of Vilafranca celebrate their 50th anniversary this year and during the Fires de Maig they organised a well visited ‘Falconcert’, where the traditional falcon music played on gralla was mixed with other instruments and modern arrangements.

Casa Torner Güell has opened as the first five-star hotel of Vilafranca. It has 17 rooms, all uniquely decorated, and belongs to the chain Mercer Hotels. As a tribute to the region, it will only hold produce from the D.O. Penedès in its wine cellar.

Baix Penedès

The ajuntament of Calafell has obtained the € 3 million credit needed in 2009 to renovate the historical town centre and to support the construction of the 2nd phase of the local business park (parc empresarial).

With 300 participants already signed up, la Bisbal has had to cancel a major paint ball fight. There has been a huge political opposition to closing off the town centre and faking a coup d’etat on June 7 since that would coincide with the elections to the European Parliament.

L’Arboç is governed by a nacionalista coalition and on June 13 – as of plan - the title as mayor will be passed over from Joan Plana (CiU) to Carles Ribé (ERC).

Anoia

The musical puppet theatre ‘En Joan Sense Por’ by the group Egos Petits received the prize as the best performance of La Mostra 2009, Igualada, according to votes of the audience.

To make the hospital of Igualada a calmer place, visit hours will be limited to 13:00-21:00 and there will be a restriction on the number of visitors allowed per room.

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Penedès News in English is a personal compilation of facts from the digital news services Vilanova Digital and Penedès Digital, the pdf-version of l’Extra plus the print versions of the Diari de Vilanova and 7 Dies. All opinions expressed are my own.

Earlier editions can be found under the label Penedès News.

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Technorati tags: Barcelona, Calafell, Catalonia, Festa Major, Garraf, Igualada, Penedès, Sitges,Vilafranca, Vilanova

Castellers Promoting the Vegueria Penedès

2009-05-17T23:25:00.009+02:00

The Castellers de Vilafranca are the best in Catalonia but they are only one of many well established colles here in the Penedès region. Today five of them met in the Plaça de la Vila of Vilafranca del Penedès. Like with many neighbours, these colles do not always have the best feelings for each other, but this time they decided to come together and show their support for the campaign vegueria pròpia.

I cannot claim to have seen anything extraordinary today (but I, admittedly missed the last human tower by the Castellers de Vilafranca). Having said that, last year I took the family to Vilafranca to see castells on the Diada de Sant Fèlix, when the Plaça de la Vila - la més castellera - was so crowded that we gave up trying to enter with our push chair, so this time we truly enjoyed the calmer atmosphere.

In this entry you will find photos of the Xicots de Vilafranca, the Minyons de l'Arboç and the Jove de Sitges, followed by video clips of the Castellers de Vilafranca, the Bordegassos deVilanova, the Xicots de Vilafranca and the Jove de Sitges.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Penedès, Sitges, Vilafranca, Vilanova

Vilanova Celebrates that Barça has Won the Spanish Premier League 2008-09

2009-05-17T02:40:00.006+02:00

Tonight Villarreal beat Real Madrid with 3-2, and F.C. Barcelona is thereby mathematically the winner of the Spanish lliga of 2009.

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Technorati tags: Barça, Catalonia, Vilanova

Penedès News in English

2009-05-16T14:32:00.007+02:00

Local news from Vilanova i la Geltrú, Sitges and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Garraf

This week we have been able to see 65 meter yacht in Vilanova i la Geltrú. With a 2,3 million investment, Michael Evans - a British national but resident of Monaco, is one of the first customers of the Vilanova Grand Marina. This marina is especially designed for super and mega yachts (25 – 80 m) and in ten months it will have a dry dock (varador) which makes it unique in the Western part of the Mediterranean.

The music school Mestre Montserrat of Vilanova i la Geltrú is from now officially recognised as an conservatory of professional musicians.

The ajuntament of Sitges has decided to convert the building Can Milà (passeig de Vilafranca) into a visitors' centre.

The Tourism Promotion Agency of Sitges has signed an agreement with local the local hotelier associations Gremi d’Hosteleria and Hotels de Sempre. The aim is to create synergies in selling the town and a first visible result is a link from the ajuntament's tourism web-page to a hotel reservation site.

Traffic will still be allowed at the passeig de la Ribera of Sitges, but from this summer the all parking lots will disappear in order to make the area more attractive.

The Guardia Civil has made a raid in a number of establishments in Sitges and confiscated 102 pots of poppers – a sexually arousing drug, popular among some homosexuals.

A new telecommunications tower will be built in Canyelles and remedy the deficient quality of digital communication in the town. The construction forms part of the plan Catalunya Connecta, according to which all municipalities with more than 50 inhabitants are to have access to TDT, mobile phone networks and broad band Internet before the end of 2010.

Alt Penedès

During a vistit in Vilafranca del Penedès, Marina Geli, Consellera de Salut, promised that to build a second public primary care centre (CAP) here is a priority project for the Generalitat and that the construction work will start in 2010, at the latest.

The Festa Major of Vilafranca – la més típica (the most typical one) – has inaugurated its new web-page and presented the official T-shirts for 2009. These will start be sold already at the Fires de Maig.

Baix Penedès

The ajuntament of Cunit and the Agència Catalana d’Aigües have signed the agreements to start the development of the Foix desalination plant. This infrastructure will, when needed, serve the comarques of Barcelona and Tarragona with drinking water and will have an initial capacity of 20hm3 per year.

Anoia

During last weekend, May 9-10, the trade fair (certamen) Aerosport’09 took place at the airport of Igualada-Odena. In spite of the crisis, with 200 light aircrafts and 2.200 visitors it beat the records of last year. The fair provides an opportunity for professionals as well as amateurs to test fly planes since all manufacturers are present. That is so unique that the event this time managed to attract buyers and sellers from all autonomous communities of Spain plus from France, Italy and Portugal.

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Warm thanks to l’Extra for the article about my “condom shop”, published in the edition of the 6th of May.

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Penedès News in English is a personal compilation of facts from the digital news services Vilanova Digital and Penedès Digital, the pdf-version of l’Extra plus the print version of the Diari de Vilanova. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Cunit, Festa Major, Garraf, Igualada, Penedès, Sitges, Spain, Vilafranca, Vilanova

The 'Wirdheim in Vilanova' Event Calendar - June 2009

2009-05-16T01:03:00.013+02:00

Here is my presentation of June events where I will go or at least could think of going in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf) and the rest of the Penedès area in Catalonia. If you have a specific interest in a certain date, please, send me a question in a comment or, at least, come back to this entry. It will be up-dated whenever I learn about new things and, to be honest, information about what will happen here tends to come late.

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June, 6: Roquetes (Garraf): "1a trobada bastonera de l'Anoia-Penedès-Garraf": Several teams will perform a typically Catalan and highly energetic 'stick dance', 17:00-21:00.

June, 6; Sitges (Garraf): “La increible, original i autèntica història del cinema... o no?” - Dance show by Flow Center.

June, 6; Sitges: A rock concert by Macaco (Barcelona; many of your will have heard 'Moving' from the album 'Puerto Presente') and Calima (Sitges) at the Esplenada de l'Atlantida.

June, 6-7; Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf): Days of Open Doors at the Marina (Estació Nàutica).

June, 7; the European Union: Elections to the European Parliament. EU citizens who are residents of another EU country have earlier this year had the possibility to choose in which of the two countries they want to vote. I will vote here in Vilanova.

June, 12; El Vendrell (Baix Penedès): Blogger meeting: 2es Jornades de la Penedesfèra. 17:00; Opening Ceremony with, among others, Ernest Benach (Speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia) and Benet Jané (mayor of el Vendrell). 18:00; ‘How the New Communication Tools Transform Today’s Politics’. 19:30; ‘To Be Present on the Internet You First Have to Get There’ – on the difficulties along the way to Internet access for all citizens.

June, 13; El Vendrell: Blogger meeting: 2es Jornades de la Penedesfèra. 10:00; ‘The Present and Future of Media'. 12:00; ‘The Internet Against the Crisis’ – on Internet marketing and business opportunities. 13:30; A Penedès inspired lunch. 15:00; A Workshop on Video Blogging and Other Web 2.0 Tools. 17:00; ‘MySpace and Other Tools to Spread Music' – with the presence of the local bands Lax’n’Busto and Buhos. 18:30; ‘Cava and Twitts’ – on the Challenges of Web 2.0 Marketing in the Cava Industry. 20:30; Closing Ceremony with a small concert by the music bands present.

June, 14; Sitges: The flower decoration exhibition on the day of Corpus Christi. Find my blog entry in English from 2008 here and here, in Catalan, what festes.org writes about this event.

June, 14; Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès): Castellers (Human Towers) performance by the Xicots de Vilafranca, Sagals d'Osona and Castellers de Sant Cugat; 12.00 at the Plaça Milà i Fontanals.

June, 19-30; Vilanova i la Geltrú: Setmana del Mar (the Week of the Sea) - Festes de Sant Pere. A festival of activities related to the sea, the port and fishermen's life. For example: the cooking competition Concurs d'all Cremat (June 20, on the beach).

June, 19; Sweden and among Swedish expats around the world: Traditional midsummer celebrations

June, 23; Catalonia: La Revetlla de Sant Joan

June, 24; Catalonia: Public holiday. El dia de Sant Joan.

June, 26-28; Vilanova i la Geltrú: Attic’09 – The Ideas and Inventions Fair of Vilanova. Find here my entry on the 2008 edition.

June, 27-29; Sant Pere de Ribes (Garraf): Festa Major de Sant Pere a Ribes. On June 27 at 18:30, the Castellers of Vilafranca and the Jove de Sitges will build human towers.

June, 28-29; Calafells (Baix Penedès): Festa Major de Sant Pere a Calafell

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General information:

For the ideas behind this event calender, see the first entry here.

Wirdheim in Vilanova will to the greatest extent possible refer to official pages (usually in Catalan) for information on the time and location of all events and can unfortunately not guarantee to present the latest up-dates or changes of program.

For castellers (human tower) performances outside the Penedès area, please, refer to the tag Agenda Castellera at the Coordinadora de les Colles Castelleres de Catalunya, or the Calendari at LaMalla.cat/castellers.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Garraf, Penedès, Penedesfera, Vilanova

Vilanova Celebrates Barça and la Copa del Rei

2009-05-14T01:37:00.009+02:00

"Guanyeu per nosaltres" says one of the banners on the local branch of the F.C. Barcelona fan club (penya barcelonista) in Vilanova i la Geltrú. And so Barça did tonight, with 1-4 over Athletic de Bilbao. Guardiola's team has won their first title this season. It is well after 1:30 a.m. and still there is a constant noise over this town from people driving around honking the horns of their cars.

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Just in case: Rei is the Catalan word for 'king'. In Spanish it is spelled rey.

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Related Media: LaVanguardia 1, Avui 1

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Technorati tags: Barça, Catalonia, Vilanova

Catalan Singers Celebrate With a New Barça Song

2009-05-14T01:17:00.011+02:00

We who live in Catalonia have been able to hear the new song Porto el Barça dins el meu cor (I carry Barça in my heart), but only today have I been able to find a written article about it.

In short, it is Bardagí, former singer of the group Glaucs who has taken this initiative to express his feelings for his football club and invited other Catalan artists to join him. Among these barcelonistes we find Beth, Marc Ros (Sidonie), Josep Thió (Sopa de Cabra), Joan Masdeu (Whiskyn's), Miquel Abras, Xavi Ciurans (Gertrudis), Titot (Brams) o Txell Sust. Except for them, the Penya Barcelonista (the Barcelona fan club) of Almogàvers has taken part in the creation of this new song.

At Sport.es you can hear the song with better quality and here below is a draft translation. It will be improved as soon as I learn the whole song. As far as I can see, until now the text in Catalan has not been published.

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Up-date: Tonight I love the Internet. An anonymous Catalan living in the US has taken the time to help me complete the lyrics of this song and I am so grateful. To be right to him (or her), I should point out that he is not sure about the first phrase, so I will keep a question mark there.

This is what they sing (well, at least most likely):

Des de cent anys d’història (?)
Més que un sentiment
El blaugrana està dins meu, sempre present
Són molts anys d’eufòria
Anys de patiments
De victòries, de batecs, de bons moments

I és que som molt més que un club
I és aquest el nostre orgull

Jo porto el Barça
Jo porto el Barça
Jo porto el Barça
Dins el meu cor

Vine al nostre estadi
Celebra el moment
D’estar junts, d'unir un país, d'unir una gent
De fer-nos prevaldre
de dir que el present ‘és nostre’
Que així és com juguem
Que junts podem

Perquè som molt més que un club
És aquest el nostre orgull

Jo porto el Barça...

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And this is how I translate it into English:

With a hundred years of history
More that a feeling
The ‘Blaugrana’ (Blue-Garnet) are always present, inside me
These are many years of euphoria
years of suffering
Of victories, of being beaten, of good moments

And, the thing is, we are much more than a club
And that is our pride

I carry Barça
I carry Barça
I carry Barça
Inside my heart

Come to our stadium
Celebrate the moment
To be together, to unite one country, to unite one people
To make ourselves prevail
to say that the present “is ours”
That is how we play
That is, together we can

Because, the thing is, we are much more than a club
And that is our pride

I carry Barça…

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Catalans i Catalanes,

Com és possible que encara no puc trobar el texte d’aquesta canció? Penso haver buscat de totes maneres possibles. No us rigueu del meu intent, si us plau, sinó feu un comentari o envieu-me un enllaç i ajudeu-me a trobar les paraules correctes. Sóc un de molts ‘nous catalans’ que volem celebarar les victòries i cantar junts amb vosaltres.

Per cert, no és cap traïció contra el meu país. Sóc de Suècia i els nostres equips – per sort – no coïncideixen amb el Barça.

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Actualització: No patiu. Un català que viu als Estats Units ja m'ha ajudat. Mentres vosaltres esteu celebrant al carrers, m'imagino que ell (o ella) ha volgut trobar una manera per viure aquests moments bonics, encara que sigui lluny d'aquí. Penso que és per això que ha buscat el texte a aquesta nova canció barcelonista i, a més, penso entendre'l perfectament - jo també visc fora del meu país.

What All Catalans Should Know About Swedes

2009-05-11T23:57:00.006+02:00

Last week, the business school EADA and the Hispano-Swedish Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona arranged a panel discussion on negotiations between Catalonia and Sweden. Sadly enough, there were more Swedes than Catalans in the audience while – and I think that we can all agree on this - the presentations were more of introductions into the Swedish business culture for a Catalan audience, rather than two-way comparisons. So, while I can not claim to have deepened my understanding of Catalonia, I at least learnt what people from here think about my native country.

Ernesto Dominguez, the president of CCHS of Barcelona, summed up his experience of Swedish companies as democratic organizations with a great respect for the personnel’s values and private lives and where results always matter more than procedures. Both he and the moderator Sergio M Gil were especially amused with the typically Swedish meetings which can last forever, without any opinions being confronted openly. Outsiders might feel that nothing happens, but this is how consensus is being reached and such meetings tend to make the Swedish work team members very satisfied.

Being a native Swede, Victor Bokegård, from H&M España, could allow himself to add a more critical spin to the Swedish character. He gave funny examples of our deep insecurity – the fact that we can not buy things without saying 'thanks' several times, that we love to start business presentations by asking the audience to forgive us for all our shortcomings and that we can not give people presents without adding the comment “I am sure that you will not like it” or “Well, you can always change it for something else”. Why did I feel that he was talking about me?

My personal conclusion of this meeting is something which I have discovered many times before: that I am extremely fortunate to come from a country for which most people on earth have such a high regard.
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Llàstima que no es va parlar més de la cultura catalana en aquesta conferència. Una cosa que de veritat m’interessa molt quan estic fent negocis per aquí, és el rol que juguen els contactes. La recomanació dels meus amics catalans és unànima – que sempre és millor entrar en un client potencial mitjançant una persona que ja coneixes. No obstant això, tinc la sensació que aquesta manera de treballar pertany a la historia i que les empreses catalanes d’avui – com també les espanyoles, en general - estan obertes a rebre noves propostes de gent que ve a “porta freda”.

Tot i que tinc un número de bons socis de negocis gràcies precisament a contactes, també tinc molta experiència del contrari. Per exemple, hi ha empreses on el meu contacte està poc relacionat amb les decisions, però on – per respecte a aquesta persona - he de seguir comunicant segons vam començar, en comptes de dirigir-me directament al director de compres. També m’ha passat que he venut genere a clients nous que em semblen interessats i que després he entés que s’han vist obligats de comprar per la relació que tenim. Això teoricament no importa si tens un producte que es ven a un alt preu i poques vegades però l’ important amb el meu producte és el contrari: que el client torna a comprar. Desplaçar-se per fer una presentació a un farmaceutic que fa una sola comanda de preservatius i no més és de perdre el temps, no?

Espero que un dia l’entegui tot. Encara no és així.

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Technorati tags: Barcelona, Catalonia,

Penélope y Aquiles – Quality Circus at La Vela

2009-05-10T23:49:00.002+02:00

Penélope and Aquiles combine their skills as acrobats and sophisticated clowns with choreograhpy and a bit of theatre and accomplish shows which fascinate adults as well as children. Their latest performance is called “El primer año difícil, los demás imposibles” and is set around the interaction between love and conflict which we easily recognise in any kind of long term partnership and, above all, in married life.

In case you did not see them at La Vela this weekend, I warmly recommend you to look for these talented artists during this year’s Trapezi festival of Vilanova (May 29-31).

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Circus, Vilanova

Penedès News in English

2009-05-10T02:21:00.003+02:00

Local news from Vilanova i la Geltrú, Garraf and the rest of the Gran Penedès.

Garraf

Local TV stations Canal Blau and Maricel have finally started to broadcast digitally (TDT).

The unemployment situation in Vilanova i la Geltrú continues to worsen. Megarubber, which laid of 51 people as late as in February, wants to terminate the contracts with another 130 workers. At Prysmian, the trade unions have accepted the offer for 25 senior workers to retire early, but not for 22 younger ones to be sacked.

A huge need for taking care of abandoned dogs and cats is a sad reality of modern Catalonia. This week the tripartit ruling Vilanova i la Geltrú decided to maintain its decision to close the local kennels (gossera) and not re-investigate, as requested by CiU. To outsiders this might seem to be a small issue, but angry posters and a list of 10.000 signatures (in a town of 65.000) are proofs of the heated emotions. For Vilanova to co-operate in the kennels of the other Penedès towns (located in Vilafranca) makes sense financially, but the voluntary workers who have played a vital role in the local one, feel left behind. Their involvement is not welcome in the professionally operated joint kennels, which, suspiciously enough, are just about to invest in a crematory.

The Vilanova Grand Marina has not yet officially opened, but this week up to 15 luxury yachts might anchor here. The names of their affluent owners will not be revealed but they come here for the Grand Prize of Formula 1 at the Circuit de Catalunya of Montmeló, where the marina offers to fly them by helicopter.

Among towns with more than 25.000 inhabitants, the budget deficit of Sitges ranks as the fifth biggest of the whole of Spain. This is partly due to a debated imbalance in the allocation of resources – Sitges receives funds based on the number of inhabitants and without considerations to the big number of tourists who also demands services carried out by the ajuntament. At the same time, Sitges has spent money on high profile cultural events, the most expensive of which was an exhibition in New York in honour of Martin Luther King. Local Mayor Jordi Baijet (PSC) confronts the situation with a plan for municipal action (PAM, Pla d’Actuació Municipal), presented this week, and a long-term plan for financial stability (Pla d’Estabilitat Econòmica) to come. Except for that he reminds the sitgetans that in 1840, when the town also had a big deficit in the local budget, the beach walk was built in an unpaid joint effort by all local inhabitants. Now, in 2009, I can not help wondering what the many expat citizens of Sitges would be prepared to do to build their town.

Sitges builds the brand of the town as actively as ever. Together with Cadaques, Puigcerdà and Vielha-Mijaran it recently started to promote itself as one of the Viles amb personalitat (towns with personality). At the same time, a poll carried out in the gay and lesbian by Community Marketing, reassured that the town maintains its position as the second most “gay-friendly” town of Catalonia, beaten only by the Gaixample area of Barcelona and followed by Lloret de Mar and Figueres.

Alt Penedès

This week, the new CiU mayor of Vilafranca del Penedès, Pere Regull, has appointed his deputies as well as the other members of his local government. Already after the municipal elections of 2007, when PSC and CiU won 8 town councillor seats each, was it clear that the socialists - who had ruled this town throughout the 30 years since the end of the Franco dictatorship - would not have an easy term of office. Still, even Catalan national media commented on the event when, on April 20, the two councillors of CUP and the one of ERC decided to support a CiU vote of no confidence against former PSC mayor Francisco Romero. In these times of crisis, Pere Regull has decided to bring down the number of full-time employed town councillors from five to two. Other locally big issues – like to reduce the vibrations of the AVE train when it passes by the town – will be harder to solve.

Baix Penedès

Calafell aspires to be Europe’s leading open-air museum with its reproduction of a 2.500 years old Iberian fortress (ciutadella ibèrica). The objective is to make archaeology available and attractive to the public without comprising scientific credibility.

Anoia

Igualada-Odena is the only airport which has applied to become the hub of corporate flying and aerotaxis, as of a plans made by the Generalitat of Catalonia. It seems that some of the other possible towns to host this infrastructure have pulled out because their runways do not meet the 2.000 meters of the specifications. Neither does the one of Igualada (1.200 meters), but there is a great unanimity among the population - a very important factor. In spite of its excellent motorway connection with the metropolitan area, Anoia is the Catalan comarca which has the highest unemployment rates.
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Penedès News in English is a personal compilation of facts from the digital news services Vilanova Digital and Penedès Digital, the pdf-version of l’Extra plus the print version of the Diari de Vilanova. All opinions expressed are my own.
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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Garraf, Penedès, Sitges, Vilanova