Page 213 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

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CATALONIA

Lleida • Andorra • Girona • Barcelona province • Tarragona
Catalonia is a proud nation-within-a-nation, which was
once, under the count-kings of Barcelona-Aragón,
one of the Mediterranean’s great sea powers. It has its own
semi-autonomous regional government and its own
language, Catalan, which is used in place names, menus
and on road signs throughout the region.
The Romans first set foot on the Inland, there is a rich artistic heritage
Iberian Peninsula at Empúries on to be explored. Catalonia has several
Catalonia’s Costa Brava (“wild coast”). spectacular monas teries, especially
They left behind them great monuments, Montserrat, its spiritual heart, and
especially in and around Tarragona, Poblet. There are also many medieval
the capital of their vast province of towns, such as Montblanc, Besalú and
Tarraconensis. Later, Barcelona emerged Girona – which contain a wealth of
as the region’s capital, economically monuments and museums.
and culturally important enough to In the countryside there is a lot to seek
rival Madrid. out, from the wetland wildlife of the
In the 1960s the Costa Brava became Delta de l’Ebre area to the vineyards
one of Europe’s first mass package-holiday of Penedès (where most of Spain’s
destinations. Although resorts such as sparkling wine is made). In the high
Lloret de Mar continue to draw the Pyrenees rare butterflies brighten
crowds, former fishing villages such as remote mountain valleys, and little
Cadaqués remain relatively unspoiled on hidden villages encircle exquisite
this naturally attractive coast. Romanesque churches.

Aigüestortes i Estany Sant Maurici National Park in the central Pyrenees, in the province of Lleida
Boats shelter in Tossa de Mar’s horseshoe bay on the Costa Brava

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