Catalonia - Katalonien

The autonomous region Catalonia lies in the northeast Spain. It borders in the north France and Andorra, to the east to the Mediterranean Sea, to the south to the Valencia region and in the west Aragon.

Regions

Landscape structure

coast

The Costa Brava in the northeast alternates with rocky bays and sandy, but also stony beaches. They close further to the south-west Costa del Maresme, the Costa del Garraf and the Costa Daurada which mostly consist of sandy beaches.

Central Catalan Depression

Fertile plain between the coastal mountains and the mountains of the Pyrenees.

Pyrenees

On the border to France extend the Pyrenees with its many national parks. They are great for mountain hikes and adventure sports.

Administrative structure

The region of Catalonia is administratively divided into 4 provinces, which

•       Barcelona Province (Vegeries Barcelona and La Catalunya Central)
•       Province of Girona (Vegeria Girona)
•       Tarragona Province (Vegeries Camp de Tarragona and Terres del Ebre)
•       Lleida Province (Vegeries Lleida and L'Alt Pirineu)

The provinces are divided into 41 Comarques (Community associations)

places

• 41.38252.17694444444441 Barcelona - Capital of the region, a lively and cosmopolitan city. Famous for the architecture by Antoni Gaudi.
• 42.1989262.6985572 Besalú - Capital of the Garrotxa.
• 42.253.11666666666673 Empuriabrava (Ampuriabrava) - Europe's largest marina with over 30 km of navigable canals and 5000 berths. Long, gently sloping, fine sandy beach.
• 42.2666666666672.954 Figueres (Figueras) - Dalí Museum.
• 41.9833333333332.81666666666675 Girona (Gerona) - pretty old town with an impressive Jewish quarter. Close to the Costa Brava
• 41.6166666666670.633333333333336 Lleida (Lerida) - Gateway to the Western Pyrenees, Cathedral.
• 41.72.8333337 Lloret de Mar - Bathing and party stronghold on the Costa Brava.
• 41.5333333333332.458 Mataró - in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
• 41.8191666666673.06833333333339 Playa de Aro (Platja d'Aro) - very popular seaside resort.
• 42.2633333.17510 Roses (Rosas) - popular seaside resort for families.
• 41.118681.2453211 Tarragona - southwest of Barcelona and near the Costa Daurada Old Roman city, beaches.

Other goals

Catalonia has a multitude of different landscapes that are close together: the mountains of the Pyrenees, the green hills of the north, the farms of the west and the many beaches of the south. Worth visiting are:

• Montserrat - an unusual mountain with a monastery on top. He is very famous among the Catalans. Arriving by train (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat of Plaça d'Espanya to Montserrat-Aeri) or by bus (starting in the morning at Plaça de la Universitat).
• Volcanoes near the city of Olot and La Fageda d'en Jordà a very pretty wooded area with extinct volcanoes.
• La Llacuna - beautiful, Mediterranean and remote village, with typical inns and landscapes.
• Set cases - Small place near the ski area Vallter 2000.

background

Generally

Catalonia is one of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain. Because of its linguistic, cultural and historical peculiarities, the Spanish constitution also designates it - besides the Basque Country and Galicia - as a separate "nationality". Historically, the region belonged to the Crown of Aragon.

Where the name of the region of Catalonia comes from is debatable. A legend came from a medieval historian, Pere Tomic. He leads the name to a German knight named Otger Cataló back. This knight, who is said to have performed heroic deeds during the fight in the Spanish march under Charlemagne, then became the namesake for the country south of the Pyrenees.

Ancient and Middle Ages

The area of ​​today's Catalonia was already a flourishing province in Roman times and bore the name Hispania tarraconensis. Later it was conquered by the Alans, around 415 by the Visigoths, and in 711 by the Muslim Arabs. The latter were not completely expelled until the beginning of the 9th century. by the warlike natives with the help of Louis the Pious of Aquitaine. From this time on, the country divided into 15 counties by Ludwig formed the so-called. Spanish mark of the Frankish Empire. After Charlemagne's death (888) the counts, who had become powerful in the meantime, knew of Barcelona to become independent, and the Margraviate of Barcelona or the "Principality of Catalonia" came into being, which existed as an independent state until it was united with Aragon through the marriage of the heiress of this land to Raimund Berengar IV of Barcelona (1137).

Modern times

1479 was Catalonia along with Castile incorporated into the Spanish monarchy. But it retained its original liberal constitution and only lost it through Philip V after the War of the Spanish Succession, in which Catalonia stood by Philip's opponent, Charles of Austria.

In the second half of the 19th century, Catalonia developed into the engine of industrialization within Spain. For a long time (partly until today) Barcelona - and not Madrid - was considered the most important economic metropolis. This gave the region wealth (compared to the more backward south and inland) and self-confidence. The Catalan language and culture also flourished in this phase (the so-called Renaixença). During the Second Spanish Republic (1931–39), Catalonia enjoyed extensive autonomy rights. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) the region was a stronghold of the Republicans and was only taken by the nationalist troops under Francisco Franco towards the end of the war. Under the rule of the dictator Franco, autonomy was abolished and the independent Catalan language and culture suppressed.

Autonomy and conflict of independence

After Franco's death in 1975, Catalonia received its current statute of autonomy. It has its own regional government called Generalitat de Catalunyawhich consists of a parliament, a president and an executive council. For a long time it has endeavored to expand its powers in relation to the central government in Madrid. An important point of contention concerns the desire for independence in taxation. The background to this is that Catalonia has a significantly higher economic output than most other regions and many Catalans do not want “their” money to be transferred to other, poorer parts of the country.

There has been a strong Catalan nationalist movement for decades (whereby 'nationalism' does not necessarily mean aggressive or xenophobic tendencies, just the view that Catalonia is a nation in its own right). This demands either more extensive autonomy rights or even complete state independence from Spain. A referendum on independence was rejected by the central government and declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court. The regional government had it held off anyway - with the interference of the Spanish police and national guard. 43% of those eligible to vote took part, 92% of whom were in favor of independence.

The majority of independence supporters in the Catalan parliament and the regional president Carles Puigdemont took this as an opportunity to proclaim Catalonia's independence on October 10, 2017. This sparked a deep political crisis that continues to this day. The Spanish central government overturned the regional government and took direct control of Catalonia itself. Leading Catalan politicians were either arrested or fled the country. In the early regional elections in December, the Catalan nationalist parties again won a narrow majority. Since then, everyday life has largely returned to normal, but the political future remains open.

Prominent Catalans

The region has produced numerous well-known personalities of international importance. These include B. the painters and graphic artists Joan Miró (1893-1983) and Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), the architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926), the writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón (* 1964), the soprano Montserrat Caballé (* 1933) and the tenor José Carreras (* 1946), the cellist Pablo Casals (1876–1973), the actors Jordi Mollà (* 1968), Ariadna Gil (* 1969), Daniel Brühl (* 1978) and Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey (* 1986) and the clown Charlie Rivel (1896-1983). In the sports field are the IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920–2010), the tennis player Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (* 1971), the footballers pep Guardiola (* 1971), Xavi (* 1980), Carles Puyol (* 1987), Gerard Piqué and Cesc Fàbregas (both * 1988), the basketball player Pau Gasol (* 1980) and the motorcycle racer Marc Marquez (* 1993) should be emphasized. In the world of gastronomy, the chef stands out Ferran Adrià (* 1962) emerged as a representative of "molecular cuisine".

language

The main languages ​​of the region are Catalan and Spanish. Both are taught in schools, which is why a large number of residents have mastered both. Catalan (Català) is not a dialect of Spanish (which patriotic Catalans attach great importance to), but an independent Romance language with around 4 million native speakers who, in addition to Catalonia, also use the Valencia region, on the Balearic Islands, in the Pyrenees state Andorra, in the southern French department Pyrénées-Orientales (Roussillon) and in the municipality of Alghero Sardinia (Italy) is spoken. Catalan is related to Spanish, French and Italian, so anyone who understands one of these languages ​​should at least be able to understand some signs and labels.

The language issue is also related to the political issue of Catalonia. There are a few nationalist Catalans who refuse to speak Spanish on principle. If you want to appear positive with locals, you can at least say a few words in Catalan, such as B. Bon Dia (Hello) and Goodbye (Goodbye), even if the rest of the conversation continues in Spanish. On the other hand - especially in the big cities - there are quite a large number of immigrants from other Spanish regions or Latin America who do not speak Catalan, only Spanish. Spanish is called in Catalonia Castellano (Catalan Castellà) designated.

With younger and educated people in the larger cities, you have a good chance of communicating in English; in the tourist strongholds on the coast possibly even in German.

getting there

By plane

By far the largest Airport the region is the 41.2969442.078333Barcelona-El Prat Airport(IATA: BCN), 15 km south of the Catalan capital. It also has a number of direct connections from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The main airlines represented here are Vueling, Ryanair, EasyJet and Lufthansa. There is a local train station directly at Terminal 2 (Rodalies de Catalunya), Line R2 Nord, which connects every half hour with the city center of Barcelona and beyond that with the north-eastern suburbs as far as Maçanet-Massanes. Alternatively, you can use the Aerobus drive to the center of Barcelona. There are then further connections to all parts of Catalonia.

Other airports in Catalonia are:

• 41.9008332.760556Girona airport(IATA: GRO); also known as "Barcelona-Girona") - Flights are mainly offered by Ryanair (including "Frankfurt Hahn and Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden), otherwise there are various seasonal and charter connections. Convenient for traveling to the Costa Brava (Lloret de Mar, l'Estartit, Blanes) and the winter sports areas in the Pyrenees. The bus ride to Barcelona takes 90 minutes, a bus ride to Girona costs € 15 including return. After being marketed as a low-cost airport for Barcelona by Ryanair in the 2000s, it has lost significantly in flight movements and passengers in recent years, and most airlines are now flying back to the “real” Barcelona airport.
• 41.14751.1672222222222Reus airport(IATA: REU) - 100 km southwest of Barcelona, ​​close to Tarragona at the Costa Daurada. Mainly holiday fliers from the British Isles and BeNeLux. The only connection from the German-speaking area is with Ryanair from "Frankfurt" -Hahn.

By train

Catalonia is connected to the high-speed network of both Spanish and French railways. The main long-distance train stations are Barcelona sants, Girona, Camp de Tarragona, Lleida Pirineus and Figueres-Vilafant.

From Parisians Gare de Lyon runs a French TGV twice a day (via Nîmes and Montpellier) to Figueres, Girona and Barcelona (Paris – Barcelona in 6½ hours). Other international connections are with the Spanish AVE from Marseille (4½ hours to Barcelona) or Lyon (a good 5 hours)

Of Madrid The AVE takes you to Barcelona every hour in 2½ – 3 hours, every two hours to Lleida (travel time 2 hours) and Tarragona (2½ hours).

Run parallel to the Mediterranean coast about every two hours Euromed-Trains (faster than an Intercity, but not quite as fast as the AVE) from Valencia via Tarragona to Barcelona (a total of 3:15 hours), four times a day also from Alicante (around 5 hours); there are also somewhat slower ones on the same route Talgo-Trains. Of Seville (5½ hours) or Málaga (5:45 hours) there are two free AVE connections per day via Córdoba, Lleida and Tarragona to Barcelona. Driving from northern Spain Alvia- or intercity trains from Bilbao, Gijón, Irun, Pamplona or Valladolid directly to Barcelona, ​​otherwise you have to change trains in Zaragoza.

Night trains (Trenhotel) connect Barcelona, ​​Tarragona and Lleida with Galicia (A Coruña, Vigo, Ourense).

Coming from Germany, you first drive to Paris, where you can change to the TGV to Catalonia (you have to change the train station within Paris). The fastest connection from Karlsruhe to Barcelona takes 10½ hours, from Frankfurt a. M. a good 11½ hours, from Cologne just under 12 hours. From Switzerland you can either travel via Paris or via Lyon and Montpellier. The fastest connection from Basel to Barcelona takes around 9 hours.

A special railway route from France to Catalonia leads through the middle of the Pyrenees, via the border station Latour-de-Carol/ Enveitg. This can be done with the regional express (TER) from Toulouse and then take the Rodalia line 3 on the Catalan public transport to Barcelona. But this is only something for mountain lovers and railway enthusiasts, for whom the route is already part of the destination (the journey Toulouse – Latour de Carol – Barcelona takes over 7 hours). Latour-de-Carol is also the end point of the Petit Train Jaune, an electrically operated narrow-gauge railway with a starting point in Villefranche-de-Conflent (Department Pyrénées-Orientales).

mobility

There are very good ones within Catalonia Train connections of Barcelona to the other three provincial capitals (Lleida, Tarragona and Girona). Some trains run over the Pyrenees, it is also possible to go to the eastern part by train la Tour de Carol (France) to reach. When driving from Barcelona to the beaches of the Costa Daurada the train is the first choice as it is on its way to Tarragona runs close to the coast. The Costa Brava is up on Portbou and Blanes not connected to the rail network.

There is also a private rail company that does Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) which serves destinations near Barcelona and some tourist routes. It also operates a mountain railway in the Pyrenees.

Regional- and Long-distance buses are often the only way to reach destinations in Catalonia by public transport. The two main bus stations are:

• Estació de Sants (Barcelona), mainly for international routes and close to the station of the same name, good connections.
• Estació del Nord, also in Barcelona and close to the Passeig de Sant Joan. Main station for medium and long haul; the nearest metro (line 1) and RENFE station is Arc de Triomf.

The bus routes in Catalonia are operated by different companies that start at different stations.

Tourist Attractions

Main sights

• Buildings of the Modernisme (Catalan Art Nouveau) in Barcelona and other cities
• numerous sights in the capital Barcelona, including her landmark, which is still unfinished cathedral Sagrada Familia and other buildings by the architect Antoni Gaudí, the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites
• Poblet Monastery (40 km north of Reus), Romanesque Cistercian abbey, world cultural heritage
• archaeological ensemble of ancient city Tarraco (Tarragona), the former capital of the Roman province Hispania tarraconensis with remains of the city wall, forum, circus, amphitheater, aqueduct; World Heritage

• 

  Sagrada Familia

• 

  Parc Güell

• 

  Palau de la Música Catalana

• 

  Poblet Monastery

• 

  Tarraco amphitheater

• Girona: Arab baths and baroque cathedral of Santa Maria with a carpet of creation from the 11th century
• Lleida: Old cathedral (Romanesque) and Park Camps Elisis with mermaid fountain
• nine early Romanesque churches in the Vall de Boí, World Heritage
• Collegiate Church Sant Vicenç from Cardona (30 km north of Manresa)
• Neolithic Rock paintings the so-called Levante art in 60 different places in Catalonia (especially the province of Tarragona), a World Heritage Site

• 

  Arab baths Girona

• 

  Lleida

• 

  Camps Elisis

• 

  Church of Sant Climent de Taüll (La Vall de Boí)

• 

  Crypt of Sant Vicenç de Cardona

fauna

Because of its geographical location and the variety of landscapes, which range from dry steppes to rocky coasts and mountains to the largest wetlands in Europe, Catalonia has a larger one Bird species diversity than anywhere else on the Iberian Peninsula. 95% of all bird species on the Iberian Peninsula and 50% of all known bird species in the Palearctic region (Europe, North Africa and Asia north of the Himalayas) live here. Some of the most sought-after species are the bearded vulture, black woodpecker, wallcreet, horned eagle, black-fronted shrike, little bustard, skittish billy grouse, and coral gull. The main observation spots are Cap de Creus, Aiguamolls de L'Empordà, Barcelona's Llobregat Delta, the Parc de Garraf, the Ebro Delta, the steppes of Lleida and of course the Pyrenees. There are some agencies that organize excursions or give advice for free, such as: B. Catalan Bird Tours and Oliva Rama Tours.

Railways

• Tren del Ciment, historical narrow-gauge railway La Pobla de Lillet
• Tren dels Llacs, Railroad with diesel locomotive from Lleida to Balaguer, then continue with steam locomotive up La Pobla de Segur. reservation needed

activities

• To one Bullfighting You have to go to another region of Spain to see it, as bullfighting has been banned in Catalonia since the beginning of 2012.

• The exercise of Adventure sports is in many places such as Llavorsí possible.

• A Catalan peculiarity are those Castells, the towers formed by humans often reach heights of more than 10 m.

• Mountain bike and road bike tours through various nature parks in and around Barcelona Pedals Barcelona

kitchen

There are basically a lot of nice places to eat. Many restaurants offer this at lunchtime (1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.) Menu del dia (Menu of the day), usually consisting of a choice between four starters and two main courses - and for an acceptable price. Some bars also offer combinations ("Plats Combinats") at low prices, e.g. hamburgers, eggs and chips. In the evening (8 p.m. to 11 p.m. max.) The menu is less varied. All medium-sized cities offer a wide range of options:

• Catalan food - common Cuina Casolana called.
• Paella - typically Catalan / Valencian.
• Tapas - typically Spanish.
• Basque food
• Italian food - pasta, pizzas, ...
• Chinese and Japanese food
• Fast food

The good Catalan wines should not be forgotten Penedès, Alella, Pla de Bages etc. Most restaurants also serve sangría of varying quality.

nightlife

security

Catalonia is usually a safe region. However, beware of pickpockets in large crowds and do not step unnecessarily away from your vehicle in motorway parking lots. Tourist areas like Las Ramblas in Barcelona attract many thieves, so be vigilant in such areas - as a tourist you are always a target for thieves. They can see you, but you cannot see them. Don't carry all of your money and papers in the same bag or pocket. If you've been robbed, you should always go to the police.

climate

According to the geographical location, the Catalan Mediterranean coast is milder than the coastal sections further south. The heat record for Barcelona is 39.8 ° C. In comparison, in Valencia already 42.5 ° C and in Murcia even measured 47.2 ° C. The cold records are for Girona -13.0 ° C and for Barcelona -10.0 ° C.

literature

Web links

• Catalunya Turisme - Official tourist site
• Catalan Culture Information about Catalonia
• Comarques Central at Wikipedia