COVES & COASTAL PATHS OF L'EMPORDANET, GIRONA (III)

Arriving to Tamariu, Baix Empordà

Today, The Grandma and her friends have arrived to Aigua Xelida in Tamariu, the end of their coastal route after five days walking and discovering the natural and cultural treasures of this part of the Costa Brava.

It has been a wonderful trip and the friends are exhausted after all these hours of walking. It has been an incredible feat but this is a land of exploits and all of them are perfectly documented in Ramon Muntaner's Chronicle, one of the four Catalan Grand Chronicles that explains life and conquests of the kings of the House of Aragon, the House of Mallorca and the House of Sicily all belonged to the lineage of the Casal de Barcelona.

The friends have enjoyed an unforgettable day on the beach, visiting the most beautiful coves meanwhile Jordi Santanyí and The Grandma have been remembering some chapters of this amazing Chronicle of Ramon Muntaner.

A trip is a project and all the projects have a beginning and an end but the most important objective is not only to arrive, the most important one is to enjoy new experiences, to learn new stories, to discover new places and to meet new people because this is life, a way to learn every day.

After arriving to Cala Marquesa, the last cove of the route, the group has enjoyed their last moments diving, taking sun and photos and swimming while The Grandma has been studying a new lesson of her Ms. Excel course.

Chapter 15. Import and export data in Excel (V) (Spanish Version)

FROM CALA PEDROSA TO AIGUA XELIDA

Departure point: Cala Pedrosa.

Arrival point: Aigua Xelida.

Distance: 3,970 m.

Duration: 2 hours.

Type of path: A path going through the forest, along rocks, road and coastal path.

Description of the route: from Cala Pedrosa to Tamariu, a path that winds between pine forests and rocks, following the GR-92, as far as Tamariu. From this point on, go by road or get back on the coastal path at the end of Carrer de l’Illa Blanca.

Points of interest: Cala Pedrosa, La Musclera, La Perica, Tamariu, Aigua Xelida, Sa Roncadora, Cala Marquesa.

Recommendations: follow the red and the white markers of the GR-92, do not take this route if there is an easterly storm, use comfortable footwear and take water.

Description

Once in Cala Pedrosa, follow the steps that lead up from towards the north, following the GR-92. You will come to La Musclera and La Perica, which is frequented by people fishing and you will finally come to Tamariu. From here you cannot follow the coastal road to the north. One way of getting to the coves of Aigua Xelida is by car along the road or on foot going around a series of residential estates and taking the coastal path.

Visiting Aigua Xelida and Tamariu

By road, take Carrer dels Pescadors, turn along Carrer d’Aigua Blava and carry along Avinguda de Vicenç Bou. When you come to a roundabout, carry along Carrer del Montgrí and Carrer de l’Avi Xaixu to the end, where you will take some steps that lead to the large beach of En Gotes (Aigua Xelida). If you carry on to the left, you can take the coastal path to the north to get to Sa Roncadora, although it is not recommended: the path is not signposted and there are a lot of brambles.

However if you do follow it, you will discover a cleft in the rock which has its entrance in the sea and its exit on dry land, forming a bridge over itself, which on days when there is a easterly storm bellows (giving it its name) when the sea water crashes into it and then spurts out a few metres on, in the air, sprinkling the surrounding pine trees.

Further to the north you would get to Cala Marquesa (the view from above is spectacular), a covethat some years ago could be accessed by land by  means of a very steep track that the rain has worn away making it a dangerous, impassable gully. At present it can only be reached by sea, in small boats.

At the bottom, from Tamariu, you can follow the Carrer dels Pescadors, climb up some steps, carry along Carrer del Port de la Malaespina and cross Illa Negra till coming to Carrer de l’Illa Blanca, where you take the coastal path that leads to Aigua Xelida.

If you follow the coast, by sea, you will come to El Rec dels Arbres and Les Coves d'en Gispert, places of great beauty which are particularly recommended. You can get there by organised trips in motorboats or kayaks.

Download Coves and Coastal Paths-Palafrugell

Tamariu is one of three coastal towns belonging to the municipality of Palafrugell, province of Girona, Catalonia, the other two being Calella de Palafrugell and Llafranc. It is part of the Costa Brava in the comarca of Baix Empordà.

It is situated about in a quiet and secluded bay of the Costa Brava close to the nearby inland towns of Palafrugell and Begur. Its name comes from the presence of many tamarisk trees along the promenade.

Enjoying Tamariu, Baix Empordà

Tamariu is typical of the many small coves set amongst rugged pine covered cliffs cascading down to meet the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea which have made the area north of Palamos and south of L'Estartit famous for its outstanding beauty.

Originally a small fishing village, Tamariu has not been overdeveloped and has retained its individuality and charm.

Tamariu is south facing on to one of the most sheltered beaches of the Costa Brava. There are three small hotels, some good seafood restaurants, small cafes and bars. The coarse-sanded Blue Flag beach extending nearly all around the bay is very clean. The crystal clear water is ideal for swimming as the beach, especially on the right hand side, shelves at a fairly gentle angle. It is also popular as a dive site as there are many caves to explore along with the submerged mountain of the Llosa de Cala Nova.

Aigua Xelida is the largest urbanisation in Tamariu filling the gap between Tamariu and Aiguablava. Aigua Xelida has a small sandy cove predominantly for residents of Cala Nostra just 300m away. Building restrictions are not as strict in Aigua Xelida and so many modern villas have been built in the past few years.

The waters around this area are amongst the purest on the coast and there are many other beautiful beaches within easy reach including those at Llafranc, Aigua Blava, Fornells and Calella de Palafrugell. This area consists of a huge geological mass dropping down to the sea in vertical cliffs and because of the height of the mountains and the density of the pine tree cover, the whole area has immense natural beauty.

More information: Visit Palafrugell

Ramon Muntaner (1265–1336) was a Catalan mercenary and writer who wrote the Crònica, a chronicle of his life, including his adventures as a commander in the Catalan Company. He was born at Perelada.

The Catalan Company was an army of light infantry under the leadership of Roger de Flor that was made up of Aragonese and Catalan mercenaries, known as Almogavars; Roger led the Company to Constantinople to help the Greeks against the Turks.

For a lapse of time (1308-1315) he was governor of the island of Djerba, after being conquered by the Crown Of Aragon.

Ramon Muntaner's Crònica is one of the four Catalan Grand Chronicles through which the historian views thirteenth- and fourteenth century military and political matters in the Crown of Aragon and Catalonia. He died at Eivissa (Ibiza) in 1336.

More information: Visat

 
The Chronicle of Ramon Muntaner, written in Xirivella between 1325 and 1328, is the longest of the four great chronicles and narrates the facts from the birth of Jaume I of Aragon (1207) to the coronation of Alfonso IV of Aragon (1328). His character of mirror of princes and mirror of citizens has been pointed out by all scholars.

He explains things that happened really and that he saw and lived. Muntaner often uses I was there, which underlines its role as witness, and the data it provides helps to know the time of James I.

Ramon Muntaner was born in Peralada in 1265. He was the son of a remarkable family that hosted Jaume I the Conqueror. In 1274, Jaume I went to the Second Council of Lyon and sojourned in the Castle of Peralada with Alfonso X the Wise of Castile.This fact, which occurred when he was nine years old, was one of his most precious memories and he mentions this event with emotion in the Chronicle.

Talking about Ramon Muntaner's Chronicle

In the same way that in the European novelist tradition, for example, Chrétien de Troyes, it is exposed to us, how the vision of a great hero in the eyes of a child is capable of changing the course of his life.

Muntaner says that the vision of Jaume I when he was a child led him to devote himself as a writer explaining everything he had seen.

In 1285, Peralada was destroyed by the Almogàvers during the Crusade against the Crown of Aragon and had to emigrate. When he was twenty, Ramon Muntaner took part in the conquest of Menorca. Later, he participated in the fight against the French during the War of Sicily, in 1300 at the Siege of Messina, next to Roger de Flor and as the administrator of his company. In the summer of 1302, he began under the orders of this leader, the expedition to the East. In 1307, he left the company, and in 1311 he got married.

In 1315, he had to travel between Sicily and Roussillon, as he was in charge of a delicate mission: to transport from Catania to Perpignan an orphan baby, the future Jaume III of Mallorca, in order to deliver him to his grandparents. From that moment on, his memoirs were removed and matured for ten years, until he had a revealing dream that prompted him, in 1325, at the age of sixty, in València, to start writing the Chronicle, which he finished three years later.

More information: Lluís Vives (Catalan Version)

Muntaner had a personal relationship with all the kings of the House of Aragon, the House of Mallorca and the House of Sicily belonging to the lineage of the Casal de Barcelona that were contemporary to him. In doing his work, he mainly resorted to historiographic texts for the reigns of James I and Pere El Gran and, from Alfons el Franc, his almost exclusive source is his own experience.

The work was written to be read aloud. Whenever he addresses his listeners, he usually calls them lords. Muntaner managed to establish direct communication with his listeners. For this, he uses joglaresque procedures such as the question What will I say?, As well as using a live and colloquial language.

The fundamental objective of the work is to glorify the kings of the House of Aragon. The monarchism of our chronicler is closely related to providentialism and nationalism. The blood, a common destiny and the language, the beautiful catalanesc of the world, are the elements that make up the base of the Catalan and Aragonese community. It is impossible to find in the whole of medieval Europe anything that resembles the "national" maturity of the Chronicle.

His life and adherence to the dynasty and the Catalan language, to which he expressed an extraordinary devotion, represent the counterweight to the centripetal forces within the Catalan national community resulting from the organization of conquered lands in new kingdoms (Mallorca, València, Sicília) and, sometimes, the implantation of a new dynastic branch (Mallorca, Sicília).

Muntaner's work had great repercussions and diffusion during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and was used, for example, in various passages of Tirant lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell.

It was edited for the first time in the sixteenth century, coinciding with a time of great revision of historiography; This first edition was commissioned and paid by the jurors of the city of València. New printed editions took place during the 19th century, during the period of romantic exaltation of the European medieval past, even a translation into English made by the Hakluyt Society in 1920-21.

Download The Chronicle of Ramon Muntaner

Una cala que ha nom la Tamariu, qui és escala de Palafrugell

A cove named Tamariu, which is stopover of Palafrugell

Ramon Muntaner's Chronicle, 1285

SEAGULL, METAPHOR OF FREEDOM IN ART & LITERATURE

Contemplating seagulls & diving, Llafranc-Tamariu

Yesterday, The Grandma and her friends decided to sail, to contemplate sea birds and to dive in the Mediterranean Sea. It was a different day without technology, connexions, blog, phones... only they and the sea.

Birds are animals that are associated with freedom. Perhaps because of their ability to fly, humans consider them in that way. Birds are also a constant in literature and music.

The Grandma remembers beautiful songs like Rossinyol, a Catalan theme that talks about freedom in exile; Txoria Txori, a Basque song written by Mikel Laboa that talks about freedom and repression; La Coloma -in Catalan- or La Paloma -its version in Spanish that talk about exile and longing; La Cançó de na Ruixa Mantells, a Majorcan story of a woman who loses her head waiting the return of her lover who once sailed and never returned or The seabird, a song composed by the Irish Eleanor McEvoy, that talks about repression, resilience and freedom.

The Grandma and her friends are visiting lands of havaneres and because of this, she thought in La Gavina, one of the most popular havaneres that talks about a seagull as a metaphor of freedom, the story of a birds that emigrates with the idea of returning to the beach where it was born, another metaphor of exile and return.

Tonyi Tamaki, who is a great expert in flora and fauna, explained lots of interesting things about seagulls to her friends. They contemplated them and discovered the wonderful life under the sea. Tonyi also explained the most important characteristics of seagulls, their species and their habitats.

Before Tonyi's explanations, The Grandma had studied a new lesson of her Ms. Excel course.

Chapter 15. Import and export data in Excel (IV) (Spanish Version)

Gulls or seagulls are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns (family Sternidae) and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but this arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera. An older name for gulls is mews, cognate with German Möwe, Danish måge, Dutch meeuw, and French mouette; this term can still be found in certain regional dialects.

Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They typically have harsh wailing or squawking calls; stout, longish bills; and webbed feet. Most gulls are ground-nesting carnivores which take live food or scavenge opportunistically, particularly the Larus species. Live food often includes crabs and small fish.

A seagull, Mediterranean Coast

Gulls have unhinging jaws which allow them to consume large prey. Gulls are typically coastal or inland species, rarely venturing far out to sea, except for the kittiwakes. The large species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, but two years is typical for small gulls. Large white-headed gulls are typically long-lived birds, with a maximum age of 49 years recorded for the herring gull.

Gulls nest in large, densely packed, noisy colonies. They lay two or three speckled eggs in nests composed of vegetation. The young are precocial, born with dark mottled down and mobile upon hatching.

Gulls are resourceful, inquisitive, and intelligent, the larger species in particular, demonstrating complex methods of communication and a highly developed social structure. For example, many gull colonies display mobbing behavior, attacking and harassing predators and other intruders.

Certain species have exhibited tool-use behavior, such as the herring gull, using pieces of bread as bait with which to catch goldfish, for example. Many species of gulls have learned to coexist successfully with humans and have thrived in human habitats. Others rely on kleptoparasitism to get their food.

Gulls have been observed preying on live whales, landing on the whale as it surfaces to peck out pieces of flesh.

More information: RSPB

Gulls range in size from the little gull, at 120 g and 29 cm, to the great black-backed gull, at 1.75 kg and 76 cm. They are generally uniform in shape, with heavy bodies, long wings, and moderately long necks. The tails of all but three species are rounded; the exceptions being Sabine's gull and swallow-tailed gulls, which have forked tails, and Ross's gull, which has a wedge-shaped tail.

Gulls have moderately long legs, especially when compared to the similar terns, with fully webbed feet. The bill is generally heavy and slightly hooked, with the larger species having stouter bills than the smaller species. The bill colour is often yellow with a red spot for the larger white-headed species and red, dark red or black in the smaller species.

The gulls are generalist feeders. Indeed, they are the least specialised of all the seabirds, and their morphology allows for equal adeptness in swimming, flying, and walking. They are more adept walking on land than most other seabirds, and the smaller gulls tend to be more manoeuvrable while walking. The walking gait of gulls includes a slight side to side motion, something that can be exaggerated in breeding displays. In the air, they are able to hover and they are also able to take off quickly with little space.

Two seagulls, Mediterranean Sea

The general pattern of plumage in adult gulls is a white body with a darker mantle; the extent to which the mantle is darker varies from pale grey to black. A few species vary in this, the ivory gull is entirely white, and some like the lava gull and Heermann's gull have partly or entirely grey bodies.

The wingtips of most species are black, which improves their resistance to wear and tear, usually with a diagnostic pattern of white markings. The head of a gull may be covered by a dark hood or be entirely white. The plumage of the head varies by breeding season; in nonbreeding dark-hooded gulls, the hood is lost, sometimes leaving a single spot behind the eye, and in white-headed gulls, nonbreeding heads may have streaking.

Charadriiform birds drink salt water, as well as fresh water, as they possess exocrine glands located in supraorbital grooves of the skull by which salt can be excreted through the nostrils to assist the kidneys in maintaining electrolyte balance.

More information: The Wildlife Trusts

Gulls are highly adaptable feeders that opportunistically take a wide range of prey. The food taken by gulls includes fish and marine and freshwater invertebrates, both alive and already dead, terrestrial arthropods and invertebrates such as insects and earthworms, rodents, eggs, carrion, offal, reptiles, amphibians, plant items such as seeds and fruit, human refuse, chips, and even other birds. No gull species is a single-prey specialist, and no gull species forages using only a single method.

The type of food depends on circumstances, and terrestrial prey such as seeds, fruit, and earthworms are more common during the breeding season while marine prey is more common in the nonbreeding season when birds spend more time on large bodies of water.

Gulls are monogamous and colonial breeders that display mate fidelity that usually lasts for the life of the pair. Divorce of mated pairs does occur, but it apparently has a social cost that persists for a number of years after the break-up.

Gulls also display high levels of site fidelity, returning to the same colony after breeding there once and even usually breeding in the same location within that colony. Colonies can vary from just a few pairs to over a hundred thousand pairs, and may be exclusive to that gull species or shared with other seabird species. A few species nest singly, and single pairs of band-tailed gulls may breed in colonies of other birds. 

A colony of seagulls, Mediterranean Sea

Within colonies, gull pairs are territorial, defending an area of varying size around the nesting site from others of their species. This area can be as large as a 5-m radius around the nest in the herring gull to just a tiny area of cliff ledge in the kittiwakes.

The family Laridae was introduced, as Laridia, by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. The taxonomy of gulls is confused by their widespread distribution zones of hybridization leading to geneflow. Some have traditionally been considered ring species, but recent evidence suggests that this assumption is questionable.

Until recently, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of the genera Ichthyaetus, Chroicocephalus, Leucophaeus, Saundersilarus, and Hydrocoloeus. 

Some English names refer to species complexes within the group:

-Large white-headed gull is used to describe the 18 or so herring gull-like species from California gull to lesser black-backed gull in the taxonomic list below.

-White-winged gull is used to describe the four pale-winged, high Arctic-breeding taxa within the former group; these are Iceland gull, glaucous gull, Thayer's gull, and Kumlien's gull.

Hybridisation between species of gull occurs quite frequently, although to varying degrees depending on the species involved. The taxonomy of the large white-headed gulls is particularly complicated.

More information: Mediterranean Waterbirds

The Mediterranean gull or Ichthyaetus melanocephalus is a small gull. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus Ichthyaetus is from ikhthus, fish, and aetos, eagle, and the specific melanocephalus is from melas, black, and kephalos, headed.

This gull breeds almost entirely in the Western Palearctic, mainly in the south east, especially around the Black Sea, and in central Turkey. There are colonies elsewhere in southern Europe, and this species has undergone a dramatic range expansion in recent decades. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus Larus.

The Mediterranean gull is slightly larger and bulkier than the black-headed gull with a heavier bill and longer, darker legs. The breeding plumage adult is a distinctive white gull, with a very pale grey mantle and wings with white primary feathers without black tips. The black hood extends down the nape and shows distinct white eye crescents. The blunt tipped, parallel sided, dark red bill has a black subterminal band. The non breeding adult is similar but the hood is reduced to an extensive dusky bandit mask through the eye. This bird takes two years to reach maturity. First year birds have a black terminal tail band and more black areas in the upperwings, but have pale underwings.

More information: Mediterranean Nature

I think that going to the beach as a child,

being in the water and smelling that 

salt air and hearing the seagulls,

it had a real calming effect.

Brian Skerry

COVES & COASTAL PATHS OF L'EMPORDANET, GIRONA (II)

A day of trekking & swimming

Today, Tonyi Tamaki has joined Josep de Ca'th Lon, Tina Picotes, Jordi Santanyí, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma on their coastal route along Costa Brava.

Tonyi Tamaki, who was born in New Zealand, is a great expert in flora and fauna and she is going to explain interesting things about pines, one of the most common trees in this coast.

The friends have visited Cala Pedrosa, a wonderful place where they have enjoyed the beach, taking sun and swimming into these claer and increadible waters.

While The Grandma has been relaxing in Cala Pedrosa, she has been studying a new lesson of her Ms. Excel course.

Chapter 15. Import and export data in Excel (III) (Spanish Version)

FROM TRES PINS TO SANT SEBASTIÀ

Departure point: Els Tres Pins (Calella).

Arrival point: Sant Sebastià Mountain.

Distance: 2,450 m.

Duration: about 50 minutes.

Type of path: a coastal path with some slopes with flights of steps and a section.

Description of the route: the entire route follows the red and white GR-92 markers. Follow the path along the coast until reaching to Llafranc Beach; walk all round the bay until you get to the port. At the entrance of the port, on your left hand side you hava a stairs that goes up to the road. Take the road until you get to Sant Sebastià lighthouse.

Points of interest: off the route; Llafranc, Roman wine press, Santa Rosa Church. Historical assets in Sant Sebastià: the Iberian settlement (6th century b.C.), watchtower (15th century), the Hermitage (18th century), the lighthouse (19th century), the viewpoints, the image of the Divine Shepherdess and the image of Sant Baldiri.

Recommendations: follow the red and white GR-92 markers, do not take this route if there is an easterly storm, use comfortable footwear and take water.

Description

After La Punta de la Torre, carry along the coastal path towards Llafranc. This route allows you to enjoy the peacefulness of the area.

Jordi Santanyí visits Sant Sebastià Lighthouse

Go along la Marineda, Passeig Xavier Miserachs and when you get to plaça Marinada, go down the Garbí steps that take you to Passeig Francesc de Blanes and to Passeig de Cípsela, to the Bay of Llafranc, with all kind of services; hotels, restaurants, bars, diving centres, supermarkets, shops, rental agencies…

Continue up the stairs next to Llafranc Port and after going up a large number of steps (*) follow the road that climbs Sant Sebastià Mountain, until reacing th viewpoint in front of the lighthouse from which there is a wonderful panoramic view of Calella and Llafranc. Carry on a little further until reaching the Sant Sebastià esplanade.

If you look at the sea from the viewpoint, you will see that the horizon looks to be curved due to a strange optical effect. This is a section that is recommended for people who would like to get to know part of the coast of the municipality without having to walk very far. The section from Llafranc to Sant Sebastià can be done by car.

*By following the road you will come to Carrer del Pinell, which is a cul-de-sac with a small esplanade at the end. Here there are El Pinell Rocks where you can practice climbing (12 equipped lines from grade 4 to 3C).

Scuba diving fans will find one of the best places for immersions off La Punta del Pinell: Els Ullastres (mountains under the sea).

More information: Visit Palafrugell & Terralet-Llafranc

FROM SANT SEBASTIÀ TO CALA PEDROSA

Departure point: Conjunt Monumental de Sant Sebastià de la Guarda.

 
Arrival Point: Cala Pedrosa.

Distance: 2,137 m.

Length: 45 minutes.

Type of path: trail.

Description of the route: the coastal path can not be used. You can follow the red and white markers that go through the interior and take you to Cala Pedrosa.

Points of interest: Salt de Romaboira, Roca del Cavall, Cala Pedrosa.

Recommendations: a section that is recommended for hikers used to mountain walks. Follow the red and white GR-92 markers, use comfortable footwear and take water.

Description

Once you have left the watchtower and have reached Sant Baldiri, follow the GR-92 markers to the north , from where you will be able to enjoy a view of the vertical coast with the lead and cinnamon coloured stones of the rocks.

Tonyi Tamaki & Tina Picotes visit Cala Pedrosa

Worthy of a mention is the Salt de Romaboira, a cliff that goes down to the sea and which is impressive due to its height  (187 m).

Follow the GR-92 markers inland. This section is recommended for hikers used to mountains walks.

If you take this path, be particularly careful along the first section as it goes close to cliffs that are not protected.

Carry along the GR-92 inland going through Mediterranean forests which are very leafy and that will help you disconnect from the usual sounds of towns and cities.

You will finally come to Cala Pedrosa, a cove covered in stones with two huts.

More information: Catalunya

A pine is any conifer in the genus Pinus of the family Pinaceae. Pinus is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.

The modern English name pine derives from Latin pinus, which some have traced to the Indo-European base *pīt- resin (source of English pituitary). Before the 19th century, pines were often referred to as firs (from Old Norse fura, by way of Middle English firre).

There are more than a hundred species of pine trees, distributed across all latitudes and altitudes of the northern hemisphere, six of which are spontaneously occurring in the Catalan Countries: el pi blanc (white pine), el pi pinyer i el pinastre (pine and pineapple), typical of the lowland, la pinassa o pi gargalla (pineapple or pi gargalla) in the middle of the mountain, el pi roig (red pine) on the montane dwelling and pi negre (black pine) in the high mountains.

More information: SFGuide

Some others (pine of the Canary Islands, pine tree insigne) have been introduced for their forestry use.

Many botanists consider the genus Pinus to contain two subgenera: Haploxylon, or soft pines, which have one fibrovascular bundle, and Diploxylon, or hard pines, which have two.

Many pines have both lumber trade names and several common names. Numerous trees commonly called pines are not true pines but belong to other genera in the family Pinaceae or to other families of conifers.

Pines are softwoods, but commercially they may be designated as soft pines or hard pines. Soft pines, such as white, sugar, and piñon pines, have relatively soft timber, needles in bundles of five (less commonly, one to four), stalked cones with scales lacking prickles, and little resin.

Contemplating Pinus halepensis in Llafranc

Their wood is close-grained, with thin, nearly white sapwood; the sheaths of the leaf clusters are deciduous, and the leaves contain a single fibrovascular bundle. 

Hard pines, such as Scotch, Corsican, and loblolly pines, have relatively hard timber, needles in bundles of two or three (rarely, five to eight), cone scales with prickles, and large amounts of resin.

Their wood is coarse-grained and usually dark-coloured, with pale, often thick sapwood; the sheaths of the leaf clusters are persistent, and the leaves have two fibrovascular bundles.

Young pine trees are usually conical, with whorls of horizontal branches. Older trees may have round, flat, or spreading crowns. Most species have thick rough furrowed bark. Pines have two types of branches, long shoots and short shoots, and three types of leaves, primordial, scale, and adult.

More information: Owlcation

Seedling plants bear the lance-shaped spirally arranged primordial leaves. The triangular scale leaves, also lance-shaped, are borne on the long shoots of older trees. Both long and short shoots develop in the axils of the deciduous scale leaves. The needlelike photosynthetic adult leaves, with two or more resin canals, are borne in fascicles (bundles) of two to five (rarely, up to eight or solitary) at the tip of each short shoot; they remain on the tree 2 to 17 years.

Pollen-bearing male cones are covered with many fertile scales, each of which bears two pollen sacs. Ovule-bearing female cones, borne on the same tree, have several spirally arranged bracts (modified leaves), each of which is located below a scale with two ovules (potential seeds). In spring or early summer the pollen sacs release pollen through longitudinal slits; each grain has two air bladders for wind dispersal.

The scales on the female cones open to receive the pollen and then close; actual fertilization takes place late the following spring. After fertilization, the woody female cone develops over a two- to three-year period. In some species the cones open at maturity and the seeds are released, while in others the cones remain closed for several years until opened by rotting, by food-seeking animals, or by fire.

In some pines the scale bearing the nutlike seed may be expanded to form a wing for airborne dispersal.

More information: The Spruce

Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine

and the cypress to show their strength and their stability.

Ho Chi Minh

'HAVANERES I CREMAT', CUBAN INFLUENCE IN L'EMPORDÀ

Visiting Can Batlle Tavern, Calella de Palafrugell

Today, Tina Picotes has joined Claire Fontaine, Jordi Santanyí, Josep de Ca'th Lon and The Grandma on their route along Costa Brava.

Tina is a great painter and a great fan of classic and popular music and she has wanted to explain her friends a wonderful event sited in Calella de Palafrugell the first Saturday of every July, the Cantada d'Havaneres, a music festival where local groups sing sea songs, especially havaneres, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France.

The friends have visited Can Batlle Tavern, a historical place in Calella de Palafrugell and some of them have gone to the beach to relax taking sun and swimming in this beautiful Mediterranean sea.

The Grandma has driven along the coast to have better views of places that she knows perfectly and she visits very often. Before doing this, she has been studying a new lesson of her Ms. Excel course.

Chapter 15. Import and export data in Excel (II) (Spanish Version)

Calella de Palafrugell is one of three coastal towns belonging to the municipality of Palafrugell, Girona, the other two being Llafranc and Tamariu. It is part of the Costa Brava, the coastal region of northeastern Catalonia, in the comarca of Baix Empordà.

Calella de Palafrugell is a small holiday resort and fishing village near Palafrugell and a short distance along the coast from Llafranc.

Calella de Palafrugell has an excellent setting and, whilst busy in the summer season, it does not have the large hotels and mass tourism of other Costa Brava. The coastline of the town stretches some two kilometres south to the El Golfet beach -part of the Cap Roig headland where beautiful Botanical gardens are located.

Enjoying beach in Calella de Palafrugell

The town has a number of good standard hotels, apartments and, at a distance from the beach, some campsites. Like much of the picturesque section of the Costa Brava, north of Palamos and south of L'Estartit, Calella has moved steadily upmarket in recent times and offers some very high quality restaurants and hotels -at prices to match. The beaches are Blue Flag standard.

Calella de Palafrugell has a number of beautiful small coves linked to Llafranc via a coastal walk. The first of the beaches at Calella de Palafrugell is Canadell where you have the Tragamar restaurant on the beach which is open during the summer season.

Port Bo is a small sandy cove located just south of central Calella de Palafrugell. Les Voltes is a beach where you have a small promenade set back from the beach with several restaurants and beach shop. Platja Sota Can Calau is the next one along and after that Port Pelegrí, Sant Roc and El Golfet which is approximately 1.5 km from central Calella de Palafrugell.

Calella de Palafrugell is a very popular destination dominated by apartments blocks set just back enough not to be seen from the beach. There are only a small number of hotels in this area.

More information: Havaneres Calella

La Cantada d'Havaneres de Calella de Palafrugell is the reference of the Habanera world celebrated on the first Saturday of July at the beach of Port Bo in Calella de Palafrugell.

With the frequent participation of the group Port-Bo, the Bergantí Group, Cavall Bernat, Els Pescadors de l'Escala, Peix Fregit and Terra Endins, sung ends up singing with the public La bella Lola and El meu avi. 

It is one of the best known events in Catalonia. This act, which has its origins in 1966 with a meeting of singers at the tavern of Can Batlle, had a great success from the beginning and this forced the organizers to repeat the act on the beach of En Calau. As of 1969, the Association of Friends of Calella, organizing the Cantada at that time, decided to move it to the Plaça del Port Bo, where it is currently held under the organization of the Institute of Palafrugell Economic Promotion.

The place where the song of Habaneras is celebrated annually was initially occupied by shacks of fishermen and began to populate towards the end of the XVIII century. The beach of Port Bo was originally the natural harbour of Palafrugell and became a commercial and fishing center.

Some veteran fishermen singing Havaneres

The beach of El Port Bo is a neighborhood of the town of Calella de Palafrugell, the southernmost of the maritime cores of the district. It preserves the original layout of the streets, of a great typism, and the white buildings lying on the seafront, which were perhaps used as shelter for fishing utensils, with boats stranded in the sand as evidence of a past activity that still lasts. All this set is an example of traditional architecture that retains its charm, like most of the buildings that flank the inner streets.

The set of Les Voltes is located to the right of the Port Bo, facing the sea, and it is the one that gives more character to the maritime façade of Calella. Les Voltes de Miramar street are modern and they are built to imitate the traditional architecture of the place.

The arrival of soldiers, indianos and traders from Cuba after the Cuban Independence War, favoured at the beginning of the last century, that the havanera became very popular. The great success that the zarzuela had among the the Catalan and Spanish audience, and the performance that some choirs and choral societies made of them, made it easy that the americanas, as they were called at that time, enjoyed a wide and varied audience. 

However, after this culminating moment, the havaneres suffered a severe decline during the the 1950s and they only survived in very small popular environment, especially on the Empordà coast. They did not survive as  a clearly identified genre in taverns and huts by the sea, but mixed up with several songs of the time: boleros, polkas, sardanes, jotas... sung by no professional performers of an enviable musicality.

In 1948, Xavier Montsalvatge, Josep Maria Prim and Néstor Luján published Álbum de Habaneras, considered the first attempt to safeguard a genre in danger of extinction.

Some years later, in 1966, in Calella de Palafrugell, it was presented the book Calella de Palafrugell i les havaneres by Joan Pericot, Frederic Sirés and Ernest Morató. The organizers in order to present the book held a Cantada d'Havaneres in the tavern called Can Batlle: That was the origin of the Cantada d'Havaneres of Calella de Palafrugell, the first edition of which was in 1947.

The Cantada d'Havaneres of Calella  acted as a real turning point in the promotion of the creation of the first singing groups, just formed to to take part in the Cantada. Tourism and the disappearance of the old fishermen's world made the havanera disappeared from popular environments. The havanera had moved from the tavern to the stage.

More information: Palau Robert

Contradanza, also called contradanza criolla, danza, danza criolla, or habanera, is the Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador.

In Cuba during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain international popularity, the progenitor of danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a characteristic habanera rhythm and sung lyrics.

Outside Cuba, the Cuban contradanza became known as the habanera -the dance of Havana- and that name was adopted in Cuba itself subsequent to its international popularity in the later 19th century, though it was never so called by the people who created it.

Calella de Palafrugell then and now

The habanera is also slower and as a dance more graceful in style than the older contradanza but retains the binary form of classical dance, being composed in two parts of 8 to 16 bars each, though often with an introduction.

During the first half of the 19th century, the contradanza dominated the Cuban musical scene. It is thought that the Cuban style was brought by sailors to Catalonia, where it became popular for a while before the turn of the twentieth century. In the 20th century, the habanera gradually became a relic form in Cuba, especially after the success of the son. The music and dance of the contradanza/danza are no longer popular in Cuba but are occasionally featured in the performances of folklore groups.

The habanera rhythm's time signature is 2/4. Syncopated cross-rhythms called the tresillo and the cinquillo, basic rhythmic cells in Afro-Latin and African music, began the Cuban dance's differentiation from its European form. Their unequally-grouped accents fall irregularly in a one or two bar pattern: the rhythm superimposes duple and triple accents in cross-rhythm (3:2) or vertical hemiola.

More information: Street Swing

Among the different theories of the Habanera's origin, for the coherence of its basis, the most reliable is the one that says that the firsts who started to sing and compose these songs were sailors who travelled to the West Indies, specifically the Antilles, as many of the lyrics of the first Habaneras tell us stories about the sailing world, the love and the lack of affection, the farewells, the sea and the boats, the mulattas, the Antilles, the battles, the longing and the rum, and how they were captivated by the beauty of the mulattas and the exotic landscape of the Caribbean.

The first singings were completely improvised by the people living in the world of the sea, after a long hard working day, or on days with an awful weather, sheltering in taverns where they sang chants mixing what they learned from popular heritage.

These songs have put down deep roots in almost all coastal towns in Catalonia as well as inland, and therefore we can find that are written in Catalan or Spanish indifferently, being from the last century or from contemporary composers.

Currently, the performers of these songs are the children of those fishermen and workers who were dedicated to the sea, which have become professionalized groups, carrying the habanera and other styles of Tavern chants to festivities around Catalonia.

More information: Transatlantic Returns-The Habanera in Catalonia

Cremat, or rom cremat is an alcoholic cocktail of Catalan origin. Although many different recipes exist, the common elements to most of them are rum, sugar, spices -particularly cinnamon-, lemon peel, and some form of coffee -usually roasted beans, but soluble instant coffee or brewed coffee are also used.

Rom Cremat

The origin of the cremat is closely related to historic seatrade between Catalonia and the Americas -particularly Cuba- in the 19th century, at a time when Catalan tradesmen and entrepreneurs set sail for the West Indies in search of fortune -an archetype known in Catalan as indià or indiano upon their return. 

The drink is associated with fishermen and believed to have originated on the Costa Brava, the coastal area of Girona.

Preparation and consumption of cremat constitutes an important part in the ritual of singing havaneres, a musical genre based on Cuban contradanza. This type of sea shanty, and by extension the drink, is a staple of Catalan identity.

A concert or cantada of havaneres is a frequent night event in festes majors -village festivals-  around Catalonia, not exclusively on the seaside, and cremat is served to both singers and audiences.

Cremat is traditionally brewed in a large terracotta bowl or pot. Dark rum is preferred, although since most of the alcohol is burned away, it is not necessary to use a top shelf brand.

The rum is mixed with sugar, cinnamon, a lemon peel, and roasted coffee beans, and heated over a stove so that the sugar melts. At this point it can be tasted for sweetness and add sugar if necessary.

The following part must be done outdoors: The mixture is set on fire -usually by lighting a spoonful first, and then the whole bowl-, and it is left burning until the liquid is reduced to around ​2⁄3, around 10 minutes.

Then it is put out by covering the bowl with a lid, blowing, or throwing brewed coffee on it. It is then served hot in glasses or coffee mugs.

More information: Tot NMallorca

Cuba is such a beautiful country, and everywhere you go, 

there's music and people dancing -especially in Havana.

Julia Sawalha

COVES & COASTAL PATHS OF L'EMPORDANET, GIRONA (I)

Claire, Joseph, Jordi & The Grandma start the route

Today, Claire Fontaine has joined Joseph de Ca'th Lon, Jordi Santanyí and The Grandma.

Claire is a great designer and an excellent photographer and she wants to walk along the coast with her friends to take some photos and to discover local stories and traditions. The four friends start today a wonderful trip along the coast and they are going to explain their route day by day.

Before starting the route, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Ms. Excel course.

Chapter 15. Import and export data in Excel (I) (Spanish Version)

FROM GOLFET TO SANT ROC (CALELLA)

Departure Point: Els Canyers / Sant Roc Beach.

Arrival point: El Golfet Beach.

Distance: 1,407 m.

Duration: 40 minutes.

Type of path: coastal path with significant changes of level with flights of stairs and tunnels.

Description of the route: a particularly wild path that goes along the coast to the centre of Calella.

Points of interest: Les Aigües Mortes, El Castellet d'en Niell, La Punta dels Forcats, La Roca Vermella (the red rock), Cala de la Font d'en Roques, Cala de la Font d'en Fina, L'Agulla del Golfet, El Cap Roig, El Cap Roig Botanical Garden.

Recommendations: follow the red and white GR-92 markers, do not take this route if there is an easterly storm, use comfortable footwear and take water.

Description

The section from El Golfet to Sant Roc, which is particularly wild, can be started next to Hotel Sant Roc where there are some stairs that lead to the coastal path. 

Joseph visits El Golfet, Calella de Palafrugell

The walk allows you to enjoy a spectacular view of Calella seafront, to walk along the coast with significant changes of level, with stairs and tunnels, to get a close-up view of the Formigues Islets -where a naval battle was fought in 1285 which destroyed the fleet of Philip III of France, the Bold- to get to know Mediterranean plant life, and to listen to the birds singing... You will also come across a series of strange rocks such as El Castellet d'en Niell, La Punta dels Forcats and L'Agulla del Golfet, finally coming to El Golfet Beach (if you leave behind the red and white GR-92 markers which continue along a long flight of the stairs to your right, and you carry straight on).

To enjoy an aerial view of El Golfet Beach, follow the GR-92 markers until you come to the Plaça Dorothy Webster.

This section gives you an idea of the genuine Costa Brava.

Once you come to El Golfet Beach, continue along the GR-92 toward Cap Roig, where you come to the Botanical Garden, where you can admire the entire Mediterranean flora and continue towards Palamós or come off the path and turn into the Sant Roc district.

More information: Visit Palafrugell

FROM SANT ROC TO TRES PINS (CALELLA)

Departure Point: Els Canyers or Sant Roc Beach.

Arrival point: Els Tres Pins (Punta de la Torre).

Distance: 1,350 m.

Duration: approximately 35 minutes.

Type of path: coastal path with some flights of steps and the streets of Calella.

Description of the route: a path that goes along the coast passing the most emblemating points of Calella.

Points of interest: Hotel Sant Roc viewpoint, Les Voltes, Sa Perola (tourist information office and interpretation centre), Mirador M. Juanola (la Casa Rosa), all the coves along which the route runs. * Off the route: Calella Church.

Recommendations: follow the path by the sea, do not take this route if there is an easterly storm, use comfortable footwear and take water.

Description

From Els Canyers Beach, carry along the seafront towards Els Banys d'en Caixa and El Port Pelegrí. Then walk on to La Punta dels Burricaires, where there is a magnificent viewpoint, and La Platgeta.

The Grandma visits Els Tres Pins, Calella de Palafrugell

Continue along this more urban part of Calella following the path along the sea that is part of the GR-92 and you get to d'en Calau Port.

There is one cove after another and you get to El Port Bo, which is well known for its vaults and the recital of havaneres or sea shanties of Calella, on the first Saturday of july. Just behind this, there is Sa Perola, old fishermen's premises, preserved with its original appearance and currently the tourist information office and interpretation centre.

You then come to Es Còdol, some rocks which separate the beach of El Port Bo and the Malaespina Port, and which have become a symbol of Calella.

You will come to a jetty under Can Jaume Gil and continue towards the Primitiu Guri viewpoint. Continue along the coast, crossing the terrace of Casa Rosa (Can Genís) which is a right way, until you are right in El Canadell Beach.

In this bathing area, very well known for its basement fishing under the houses, there is El Canadell promenade. Under Can Jubert and El Canyissos (or under Can Comes) there are small areas highly appreciated by bathers in the winter, which take you by means of a flight of steps to Els Tres Pins, where you come to Hotel la Torre, with the Calella lookout tower, built in 1597 to control the pirate attacks of that period and from where you carry along the coastal path towards Llafranc.

Download Map of Palafrugell (Calella, Llafranc, Tamariu)

The Formigues Islands, in Catalan Illes Formigues, is an archipelago consisting of 16 small islands located 4.8 km from the port of Palamós, Girona, Catalonia. They lie facing the beach of Calella and Cap Roig. A lighthouse is located on the island of Formiga Gran (41º53'N 03º11'E). The islands are sometimes covered by waves when the sea is rough. The name of the islands is derived from the Catalan word for ant, referring to their size.

Administratively, they are divided between the municipalities of Palamós and Palafrugell.

The depths around the Formigues vary from 9 metres deep to more than 45 metres deep. The islands consist mostly of calcareous rock, with various caves and crags filled with rich marine vegetation, especially multicolored sea fans.

The Battle of Les Formigues took place in the islands in 1285.

Les Illes Formigues, Baix Empordà

The naval Battle of Les Formigues took place probably in the early morning of 4 September 1285 near Les Formigues Islands, Catalonia, about 85 km northeast of Barcelona, when a Catalan-Sicilian galley fleet commanded by Roger de Llúria defeated a French and Genoese galley fleet commanded by Guilhem de Lodeva, Henry di Mari, and John de Orrea.

There are three almost completely different accounts of this battle: from Ramon Muntaner, Bernard Desclot, and the Gesta comitum Barchinonensium. The Gesta places the battle at Les Formigues, while Muntaner favoured a location off Roses to the north. Either Llúria or the French were ashore for the night and encountered by the other, or they were both at sea when the encounter took place.

The accounts agree that it happened at night, which was unusual for medieval naval battles, but suited Llúria who was skilled at night-fighting. He used two lanterns on each galley to increase his apparent numbers. Ten to sixteen Genoese galleys under John de Orreo fled, leaving about fifteen to twenty French galleys to be captured, and some others sunk or burnt.

The troubadour Joan Esteve blamed treachery for the capture of the French admiral Guilhem. It is said that three hundred French prisoners were sent back to France. All of the prisoners but one had their eyes gouged out, and that one was left with one eye to guide the others. The prisoners brought one message from Roger de Llúria to the King of France: that not even fish would be able to navigate safely through Mediterranean Sea without a shield or sign of the king of Aragon on them.

More information: Visita Costa Brava

After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value.

G.M. Trevelyan