MAYTE & EL CASTELL DE SANTA FLORENTINA IN CANET

Today, The Grandma has received news from Mayte, one of her closest friends, who is spending some days in Canet de Mar in El Maresme.

Canet de Mar is a municipality in the comarca of the Maresme in Catalonia.

It is situated on the coast between Arenys de Mar and Sant Pol de Mar and el Corredor and el Montnegre ranges. It is a tourist centre, but is also known for the cultivation of flowers and strawberries and for having several modernist style buildings. Canet de Mar is in the province of Barcelona, 43 kilometers from Barcelona.

Its coast consists of a sandy due to the decomposition of granite rocks which form the basement Canetenc; beaches are flat and with an average width of 50m mainly golden sand and thick, and have easy access on foot or cycling.

The quality of the beach strip is the protection of coastal vegetation, where there are native plants of coastal Catalonia and Maresme. They are marked with buoys 200 meters, and there are input and output channel for boats.

More information: Ajuntament de Canet de Mar

The Castle of Santa Florentina, in Catalan Castell de Santa Florentina, is an 11th-century medieval castle in Canet de Mar, Catalonia.

It was built on the foundations of an Ancient Roman villa by Guadimir de Canet (born 1024). In the 16th century, it passed into the hands of Dimas Muntaner. In 1908, it hosted King Alfonso XIII, who made the castle's owner Ramon de Montaner i Vila count of Canet.

In 1910, the castle was expanded and renovated by the modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and its facade acquired some gargoyles by the sculptor Carles Flotats i Galtés. The magazine Architectural Digest covered the castle as among the most beautiful houses in the world in 1998 on account of its harmonious fusion of Gothic and Modernist designs.

The castle is listed as a cultural heritage monument. It is private property and hosts a museum that can be visited by appointment, as well as a yearly festival of classical music. Among the museum's collections are many works by Catalan artists dating back to the early 20th century.

In 2015, the castle was a setting for the sixth season of the fantasy television series Game of Thrones.

More information: Castell de Santa Florentina

I was always fascinated, even as a child,
by antiques and ancient times.
I always felt I should have been born
in the 17th or 18th century.
They really had a big stone castle
with authentic furniture.

Margaret O'Brien