Collioure

Collioure (in Catalan: Cotlliure) is a town, head of the commune of the same name, of about 3000 inhabitants, of the region of Roussillon, in the Northern Catalonia.

Nowadays, along with the towns of Argelès-sur-Mer, Port-Vendres, Banyuls de la Marenda, Cervera de la Marenda, Palau del Vidre and Sant Andreu de Sureda, it is part of the canton number 5 of the Vermillion Coast (new grouping of municipalities resulting from the cantonal restructuring carried out on the occasion of the cantonal and departmental elections of 2019), with a capital in Argelers.

Former fishing and wine-growing village, known for its anchovies, Collioure has also been an inspiration for painters such as Matisse, Derain, Chagall, Gris, Braque, Picasso, Dufy and Dalí, among others, who portrayed its castle, its alleyways or the picturesque bell tower of its church by the sea.

On the cemetery of Collioure there are the tombs of Antonio Machado and the novelist Patrick O’Brian, who lived there between 1949 and 2000.

The nickname of the people of Collioure is ganxeros or conyics. The saying goes: “It is good to live in Collioure, and in Argelers, if you have money.”

Read more on Collioure

Sitges

Sitges and its sights

Sitges – a municipality in Spain, is part of the province of Barcelona as part of the autonomous community of Catalonia.

The municipality is located in the district Garraf.

History: Sitges belongs to one of the oldest settlements of the Iberian peninsula. The first mention of the settlement of the Iberian tribes dates back to the 4th century AD. Since the 12th century, power in the surrounding settlements was in the hands of the dynasty of Sitges, from which the city received its name. The economic potential of this Spanish region was mainly based on winemaking and wine trade with other cities in Spain and other European countries.

Over the past 20 years, the population of Sitges has almost doubled and acquired the features of “cosmopolitanism and multinationalism”: 35% of residents are citizens of Great Britain, the Netherlands, France and, most notably, the richest country in Europe (where the highest standard of living is registered) – Scandinavia.

Read more

Argelès-sur-Mer

Argelès-sur-Mer [fr. Argelès-sur-Mer, cat. Argelers de la Marenda], or simply, Argelers is a village and a community of about 10 000 inhabitants, in the region of Roussillon, in North Catalonia.

Currently, together with the towns of Collioure and Port-Vendres and the villages of Banyuls de la Marenda, Cervera, Palau del Vidre and Sant Andreu de Sureda, they form the cantó number 5 of the Côte Vermeille (new group of municipalities resulting from the cantonal restructuring made on the occasion of the cantonal and departmental elections of 2015), with capital in Argelers.

At the end of the Spanish Civil War, in 1939, Argelers sadly became famous for the concentration camp that the French government installed on its beach, where up to 100,000 Republican exiles from Spain were interned.

The saying goes: A la Roca el sol hi toca, a Argelers encara més i A Cotlliure, hi fa bon viure, i a Argelers, si tens diners i A Portvendres, piquen pebre, | a Argelers, piquen sal: | l’alegria de les dones | és sota del davantal (english: The sun touches La Roca, Argelers still more, in Collioure it is good to live, and in Argelers, if you got the money and at Port-Vendres, they chop pepper, | in Argelers, they chop salt: | joy of women | is under the apron.

Read more

Biarritz – King of beaches and beaches for kings

Biarritz (fr. Biarritz) – a luxury resort town belonging to the Atlantic Pyrenees Department (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), the New Aquitaine Region in southwestern France. Its current Basque name is Biarritz (or Miarritze), and its current Gascon name is Biàrrits.

The name Biarritz probably comes from the berarr Basque root, replacing belharr, “grass” with the suffix -itz addition and its “grassy place” meaning. This is entirely plausible, since Biarritz was only a village in a swamp back in the nineteenth century.

Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the city has a coastline of 4 kilometers in the Bay of Biscay valley, less than 25 kilometers from the border with Spain. Biarritz is located on the border between the Basque lands and Gascony.

Therefore, there are Basque Country red-green-white flags next to the French and European Union flags on all administrative buildings of the department.

The city was formed as a result of the merger of two suburban areas of the neighboring city of Bayonne, one of which was engaged in agriculture, and the other in marine industries. It was here that the first whaling port of France was located.

Read more