CATALUÑA
(Catalunya in the Catalan language) has a
surface of 31.932 Km2 and a population of
arounnd 6 million inhabitants. It has borders
to the north with France and with the Principality
of Andorra. To the west it is neighbour to
Aragón and
to the south with the Valencia
region. It is located on the Mediterranan
coast at the northeast corner of the Iberian
península (see map on this page).
Catalunya is formed by four provinces: Barcelona,
Gerona, Lerida and Tarragona. The 'Generalitat
de Cataluña' is the government of the
region and administrates the territory from
its political center placed in the capital
of the region, Barcelona city. The population
is distributed in the following way: Barcelona
4.805.000 inhabitants, Tarragona 612.000,
Girona 580.000 and Lleida 365.000.
• The language of Cataluña
is 'Catalán' (Catalonian), a romanic
language of latin roots. Spanish is also an
official language in Cataluña. Catalonian
literature is one of strong tradition, with
great narrative and poetry (Ramon Llull, Ramon
Muntaner, Josep Pla, Ausiàs Marc, Jacint
Verdaguer, Joan Maragall, Josep Carner, J.V.
Foix) and outstanding novel writers (Joanot
Martorell, Narcís Oller, Mercè
Rodoreda).
• The Artistic heritage of Cataluña
is the result of the creativeness of its culture
and the many historic events this region has
lived: Empúries, Roman Tarragona, romanic
architecture -both rural and urban-, gothic,
great painters of the 19th century like Marià
Fortuny, the modernista spin-off by Gaudí,
Domènech i Montaner o Puig i Cadafalch,
or world known artists of the 20th century
like Nonell, Mir, Gargallo, Miró, Dalí
or Tàpies. Cataluña has a large
amount of museums that go from the famous
Museu Nacional
d'Art de Catalunya, with an extraordinary
collection of romanic art, to small rural
ethnographic museums.
BARCELONA is a modern city,
industrial, bourgeoise and European. But also
traditional and flokloric. It is placed on
the sides of the hills of the 'Sierra de Collserola'
that slope down to the sea. We offer a vast
amount of information about this city in our
Softguide
Barcelona.
TARRAGONA. Romans, Visigodes
and Arabs settled in this city along its history,
leaving behind a rich legacy of architecture
and tradition as the Roman city of "Tarraco",
the aqueduct, the circus or the Roman Theater,
important monuments like the city defense
walls, the necropolis, the cathedral, the
forum or the medieval area. The inner province
has two important medieval monasteries, 'Santes
Creus' and 'Santa María de Poblet',
that form one of Europe's most relevant medieval
monastery groupings. Also the old grave building
for the Kings of Aragón was declared
World Heritage by UNESCO in 1991.
GERONA (Girona in Catalonian)
It's geographic location has largely conditioned
its history having been the first point of
resistance to the many invasions that came
from Europe until 1843. After that the defense
wall started to be demolished. It is one of
Catalonia's oldest cities and it has numerous
monuments like its romanic-gothic cathedral,
the romanic monastry of San Pedro, the church
od San Nicolás, the church of Sant
Feliú, the archaeology Museum or the
city walls.
Figueres is a place that desderves special
attention in any visit to this province. A
birthplace to Salvador
Dalí with an impressive museum
containing works of the artist.
In the coast the town of Ampuries is an old
Greek and Roman enclave that preserves incredible
classic ruins. All the coastline is of astounding
beauty, filled with tiny villages like Cadaqués
or the larger Rosas.
LLEIDA on the side of the
Segre river, Lleida emerges over a hill culminated
with the 'Seo' or cathedral of the 12th and
15th centuries. The national park of 'Aigüestortes',
also know as 'Estany de Saint Maurice' is
one of the nature highlights in this province.
It's a large park filled with tiny lakes (most
of the year covered in ice that melts in Summer),
that reveal its glaciar past. A great place
for climbing mountains like the Subenix (nearly
3.000 metres) with different trecking posiibilities.
Following the path of the park to the east
you will encounter the route of Catalonian
romanic, with a large French influence.
