14th July 2009

Everyone is happy about the Sitges nude beach

A year ago in one of the traditional nudist beaches of Sitges a sign was placed with the intention to attract families. The City Council then explained that they did not want to veto the nudity, but to eliminate the exclusive nudist character of the beach. Naturist groups marched to proclaim their rights until the council were forced to withdraw, due to a ruling that the poster was deemed discriminatory. This summer, those who do use bathing costums sunbath with those who don't with no problem.

"If families are willing to bring children where there are also are nudists, so be it" says a woman on the beach. This summer, the poster has been replaced by another that proclaims a nice clean beach. This is not controversial: Everybody agrees!

Source www.atlas-news.com

15th July 2009

Sitges: the St Tropez of Spain

In the Catalonian city of Sitges, Paul Clements is captivated by raked beaches, languorous charm and a metropolitan heartbeat.

Sitges is not like other Mediterranean hot spots. Twenty miles along the craggy coast from Barcelona, this unspoilt seaside town, with its style, culture and élan, instantly stands out from the overdeveloped resorts along the Costa Daurada.

A former fishing village with winding streets, a compact old town and a mellow vibe, it has a population of 25,000, which swells to more than 100,000 in summer. “Barcelona-on-sea” is where rich Catalans come to tan. With miles of meticulously raked beaches, slo-go charm and a metropolitan heartbeat, it is a jet-set favourite, too. Home to some of the country’s ritziest real estate, it earns its tag as the St Tropez of Spain.

But there is a bohemian spirit here as well. Its laid-back credentials were established in the 18th century when wealthy traders set up holiday villas, attracting artists and writers looking for inspiration from the azure waters, whitewashed houses and wild landscapes. Its reputation as a hang-out for European intelligentsia was sealed when, in the late 19th century, Picasso and his set began chilling out here.

On the edge of Catalan wine country, there are plenty of opportunities to sample the region’s sparkling cava and at the end of August, Sitges hosts one of its many crowd-pulling events, the Fiesta Major, in honour of patron saint Sant Bartomeu, during which locals parade gegants (giant puppets) through the streets before a superb firework display at the landmark cliff-edge church. High season ends in September, after which Sitges has hosts its international film festival, during which fantasy films are shown on screens around the town.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

  9th July 2009

Sitges, a cosmopolitan and modernist

Three hundred days of sunshine, seventeen sand beaches, a unique layout and painters, history, art, culture and cuisine is a city which offers visitors Sitges. The villa Barcelonesa is an exponent of Catalan Modernism

TEXT: A. MIGUEL

This was already known fishing spot 3000 years ago by Greek sailors. But it was the painter, writer and collector who Rusiñol Santiago became a small fishing village into a cosmopolitan referent that attracted the bohemian artists born in the Catalan bourgeoisie.

The prestige of Sitges began in the late nineteenth century, when Rusiñol settled in the village making it one of the meeting of artists and intellectuals associated with the Catalan modernist movement. The historical legacy of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is one of the most important claims to offer the villa in the field of culture: the architectural gems and PalauMaricel Cau Ferrat museum, located in the Calm Racó of the mansions built by the Americans , residents of the village who migrated to South America, and various public buildings form an interesting heritage that visitors will be walking through the streets of Sitges.

But diving in the history of the town is about 3000 years back in time. Greek sailors acknowledged in his writings as Blanca Subur, an Iberian site. The name comes from Sitges Sitja, comes word that means pre pit depth, grain depot.

During the Middle Ages, Sitges was a border between the territories of influence and dominated by Christian Arabs. In medieval times some testimonials are kept as the rest of the walls of the castle on the street d'En Bosch, in the old town, or as a tower or castle Miralpeix located on the western edge of the village on the hill same name.

Today, Sitges is a town linked to culture and tourism that has kept alive its origins and highlights the international tourist map. Venue of numerous congresses, home of the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya, and a broad program of cultural, sporting and festival which runs throughout the year. It is also one of the favorite destinations for the gay community around the world.

It has a microclimate with an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, 17 beaches of fine sand, an intense relationship with the world culture, nightlife, delicious cuisine, a varied range of shops, many opportunities to enjoy leisure and cares for the survival of their traditions. To know this town is perhaps best be guided by the cultural and tourist routes.

Source: www.deia.com

 6th April 2009

 Acclaimed horror film to be shown at 2009 Sitges International Film Festival

After triumphant screenings at this year's Sundance Film Festival -- where two people reportedly fainted -- Paul Solet's "Grace" will be screened as part of the 2009 Sitges International Film Festival.

Based on Paul Solet's award-winning short film of the same name, "Grace" is a feature-length unforgettable emotional and psychological journey into terror, as a young woman (Jordan Ladd, "Cabin Fever," "Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof") is forced to make the ultimate maternal sacrifice when the stillborn child she carried to term returns to life with a horrifying -- and seemingly unquenchable -- appetite. "Grace" is produced by Adam Green, born and bred in Holliston, MA, and Cory Neal, the writing/directing/producing team behind the contemporary cult classics "Hatchet" and "Spiral."

"Grace" has wowed -- and terrified -- audiences all over the world. In addition to Sundance, the film was an official selection at the SXSW South by Southwest Festival, the AFI Dallas Film Festival, and at the upcoming Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia, Spain and Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival. Other festival screenings include Portugal's Fantasporto Festival, Athens Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival and Scotland's Film Four Frightfest. In February, "Grace" was awarded the Prix Du Jury Award at the Gerardmer Festival Du Fantastique 2009 in France.

The critics hailing "Grace" are equally enthusiastic. Variety called it "...a satirical creepfest that mines modern motherhood for all its latent terrors... downright chilling," while Cinematical wrote: "First-time writer-director Paul Solet... proves himself adapt both as a visual storyteller, and as a guy who can make you cr*p your pants." MSN declared it "...a blood-soaked piece of social commentary that evoked nothing less than the early work of David Cronenberg," and EOnline bluntly stated: "Let this be a warning: View at your own risk."

Source tradingmarkets.com

 8th April 2009

 Sitges Chef wins International Chef of the Year Award

Executive Sous Chef Rodrigo Martinez Gianello of Dolce Sitges near Barcelona thrilled an enthusiastic crowd by taking the 6th IACC Copper Skillet award for his creative entry of sautéed trout and shrimp, mushroom potatoes, vegetables and a crushed spinach salad. Chautea Elan’s executive chef Marc Suennemann – and last year’s Copper Skillet winner – served as a judge along with two other local chefs, and said Chef Martinez’s creation was simple but flavourful.

The popular Copper Skillet competition was introduced in 2004 to highlight the artistry and skill of the best chefs from members of the IACC (International Association of Conference Centres) around the world and to honor their contributions to the shared goal of providing an outstanding conference center experience.

Source: ftnnews

Monday, 6 September 1999

Letter From Barcelona: `Sir' Bobby is paella prince

SHOULD BOBBY Robson succeed in salvaging the leaky Newcastle vessel, should the Magpies soar through the Premiership once more, there will be no shortage of Geordies arguing that the man deserves a knighthood.

Some might say he deserves one already. Lesser British ambassadors routinely receive this tribute. Robson has served 10 enormously successful years in missions abroad, not least as coach of Barcelona Football Club, a job whose demands are beyond the imagination of the most venerable Foreign Office envoy.

But, barring a miracle at Newcastle like the European Cup in two years' time, this is one prize likely to pass the returned exile by. Never mind. He will not be too woebegone. For he does have a significant consolation. No. More than a consolation. The satisfaction, the pride, the glory of knowing that there is a corner of a foreign field where they have gone right ahead and endowed him with their highest honour.

This correspondent can now reveal, in the pages of The Independent for the first time, a secret that the modest Robson has kept hidden for the last three months. That here in Barcelona or, to be more precise, here in the small town of Sitges (just south of Barcelona) where he used to live, he already IS a knight. Yes. That's right. And there are some 60 witnesses to prove it.

On the afternoon of Monday 7 June, at a ceremony as rich in pageantry as in champagne, Bobby Robson, the coal-miner's son from County Durham, was solemnly admitted to the Order of Knights of the Paella Club of Sitges. This is not, one should hasten to add, an award lightly given. Sitges was founded by the Romans, but only three, maybe four, such knighthoods have ever been bestowed.

The occasion was the high-point of a cycle of festivities prompted by the return "home", after a year's absence, of the coach who arrived in Barcelona in 1996 under the impossible burden of replacing Johan Cruyff; who for six months underwent criticism more lacerating than any he had experienced since his worst days in the England job; and who departed a year later laden with trophies and the esteem of a grateful and repentant public.

If Robson were to walk a hundred yards down a Barcelona street today he would receive a hundred warm handshakes. It's not that he is perceived to be the greatest coach the club has ever had. Cruyff, who also starred as a Barca player, was the man who finally won them the elusive European Cup. But Robson, under whom they won the Spanish Cup and the European Cup-Winners' Cup, was always, as they say here, "un Senor", a title best translated as "a True Gent". Even the press that had once crucified him reported the news last week of his appointment to the Newcastle job with headlines like "the Return of a Maestro", "Welcomed like a Hero" and, in a jocular barb at the enormity of the task he faces at Newcastle, "God help Grandad".

In Sitges (winter population 15,000, summer population about 20 times more) the locals loved him right from the start. His candour, his warmth, his bluff nobility, won them over. The good burghers of Sitges, Barca fans to a man, rewarded him on that June day with the highest prize they have to offer. The setting for the quarterly luncheon of the Paella Club was the cavernous dining room of a magnificent stone-wall mansion set among the vineyards that grace the town's periphery.

Robson was seated, like a medieval lord, at the head of a long table. Vast quantities of paella having been consumed, Robson received orders from the three extant knights to arise. Whereupon, in a ritual that whiffed of good-natured blasphemy, rice (uncooked) was tossed over his head as, first, the assembled diners bellowed out the Paella Club's official anthem and then one of the ordained knights intoned the club's "10 commandements", each of which Robson was entrusted to uphold. Having sworn, among other things, never, ever to praise a bad paella, a large round medal in the form of a plate of rice, seafood and chicken was hung around his neck, a historic moment (for never before had a non-Catalan received this honour) that was greeted by the assembled club members with hearty applause.

A couple of hours earlier it had been Robson's turn to hand out medals. To the competitors in a golf tournament (average score 102) that had taken place that morning in the local course. An annual competition, played twice so far, that has become known as "The Bobby Robson Classic".

Robson himself had taken part, hitting his drive from the first tee at 8.00 am. Those few remaining Newcastle fans who harbour doubts as to "grandad's" stamina might like to know that he, and his wife Elsie, had been out dancing the night before till two in the morning.

John Carlin

Read our exclusive interview withe Sitges author here.