Sitges, Barcelona (Spain).

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Whenever I go through the Carrer Major of Sitges I see this house with the opened door, that only shows this stairs that raise towards the dark. It is so dark that I have never been able to take a photo in conditions.

Siempre que paso por la Calle Mayor de Sitges veo esta casa con la puerta abierta, que sólo tiene esta escalera que sube hacia la oscuridad. Es tan oscura que nunca he conseguido sacar una foto en condiciones.

ENGLISH
Sitges (pronounced [ˈsidʒəs] in Catalan; [ˈsɪdʒəs] in English), Catalonia, Spain is a small city about 35 kilometers southwest of Barcelona renowned worldwide for its Film Festival and Carnival. Between the hills and the sea, it is known for its much-frequented beaches, nightspots, and historical sites.

While the roots of Sitges' artsy reputation date back to the late 19th century, when Catalan painter Santiago Rusiñol took up residence there during the summer, the town really came into its own during the 1960s, when it was the only center for the counterculture on the mainland of Spain (then still under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco), and became known as a sort of "Ibiza in miniature".

Today, Sitges can be considered a dynamic cultural oasis, basing its economy on tourism and culture offering more than 4,500 hotel beds, half of them in four-star hotels. The firm commitment for quality infrastructures has converted Sitges into a first-class destination in terms of tourism of congresses, conferences, seminars and company meetings in the Mediterranean area.

Sitges is also called the St. Tropez of Spain with property prices approaching those of the most expensive European cities, the main reason for this being the beautiful setting by the sea and the surrounding Parc Natural del Garraf. Proximity to Barcelona airport is also a major advantage.

Modern Sitges, preserving important references from the Middle Age and the old farmers’ and fishermen’s town, offers visitors an impressive architectural and cultural heritage, the result of initiatives by artists, cultural energizers and patrons like Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Miquel Utrillo or Charles Deering. Thanks to them, Sitges was a reference point for writers, musicians and other intellectuals and became an important center for disseminating Modernism and the "Americanos", who, after returning with their "fortune" from their American adventure, commissioned large mansions from Modernist and Noucentista (post Art Nouveau) architects.

More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitges

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CASTELLANO
Sitges es una población catalana localizada en la comarca del Garraf, provincia de Barcelona (España).

Tiene una gran infraestructura turística. Con equipamientos y tres puertos deportivos. Además del turismo la población centraba su comercio en la pesca y posteriormente la fabricación de calzado, actividades económicas que han desaparecido (exceptuando pequeños talleres).

Más info: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitges

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Parc Natural del Garraf - Olivella, Barcelona (Spain).

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ENGLISH
La Plana Novella is an old country estate and village located on a small plain in the middle of the Garraf National Park, about three kilometers to the east of Jafra and within the municipal boundary of the town of Olivella, Spain. It is notable for being in an almost uninhabited rural area, despite being about half an hour's drive from Barcelona. It is also the location of a Tibetan Buddhist retreat.

In 1885, the estate was acquired by Pere Domenech i Grau who, like many Catalan contemporaries, made a fortune in Cuba and returned home as a rich man to spend it. The estate was taken over 10 years later by the Spanish government and reclassified as an agricultural colony.

At few meters of the Palace it is the romantic lake of a beauty without equal. Brilliant painter Salvador Dalí came to withdraw and to be inspired. He got to say that “nothing else that by the lake he would be able to live here”.

In center there is a terra-cotta sculpture that represents a color woman embracing a swan, the mouth of which had to be the water jet. The place is surrounded by cedars, pines, eucalyptuses and some that another rare species, that it shows the genius of the constructor.

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CASTELLANO
La Plana Novella es una antigua heredad que se encuentra en una pequeña planicie en el centro del Parc Natural del Garraf a medio camino entre Begues y Sitges. La Finca fue adquirida por el Indiano Pere Domenech i Grau el 22 de agosto de 1885 y declarada colonia agrícola 10 años más tarde por el gobierno de Su Majestad Alfonso XII. Las obras de construcción del Palau comenzaron el primero de junio de 1887 y se acabaron el 29 de octubre de 1890 siendo bendecidas por el Obispo de Barcelona Monseñor Jaume Català. En el año 1893 se declaró la filoxera y en 1896 la finca fue a subasta pública. Desde entonces el Palau ha tenido muy diferentes propietarios que han mantenido sus puertas cerradas sin preocuparse demasiado de su cuidado.

A pocos metros del Palacio se encuentra el lago romántico de una belleza sin igual. El genial pintor Salvador Dalí venía a recogerse y a inspirarse en él. Llegó a decir que "nada más que por el lago sería capaz de vivir aquí".

En el centro hay una escultura de terracota que representa una mujer de color abrazando un cisne, la boca del cual debía ser el surtidor de agua. El lugar está rodeado de cedros, pinos, eucaliptos y alguna que otra rara especie, que muestra la genialidad del constructor.

Más info: www.sakyapa.org/theFrame.html?EntornoPalau.html

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Le Hameau de la Reine, Versailles. Builded for Marie-Antoinette d'Autriche in 1783 by Richard Mique.

From archive, very out of focus, improved with Orton.

It was #48 in Explore on Jan 9, 2007.

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Tibidabo, Barcelona.

Tibidabo is the union of two Latin words tibi-dabo (I will give you) taken from the gospel of San Mateo, 4.9, that the third temptation of Satan to Jesus in the desert remembers: “I will give all this You, if you wilt fall down and worship me”. The Hieronymite monks imagined that the devil could have attemped Jesus, offering from this summit all the wealth to him of the city of Barcelona.
In the summit is the church of the Sagrat Cor (Sacred Heart or Sacré-Coeur), closely related to his homonym in Paris, and it's visible from all the city. In 1886 was builded a little hermitage in the upper point of the mountain.
Designed by Enrique Sagnier, the actual church consists of 2 elements: the crypt in the lower part, and the temple basilica in the upper part.
The Crypt was builded between 1903 and 1911, and the basilica begins in 1914, but the Spanish civil war destroys both in 1936. After the war, in 1939, the reconstruction begins. In 1951 the upper temple is finished.
The Statue of the Sacred Heart, by José Miret, is of bronze, it measures 7,5 meters and weight 4,800 kg. and it was placed in 1961. 11 days later John XXIII ignited from Rome the nocturnal illumination.

This is the chapel where I married.

This image has Orton post-process.

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