Where is Sitges?
The municipality of Catalonia, the province of Barcelona, the sandy shore of the warm Mediterranean Sea - that's where Sitges is. Only 36 kilometers from Barcelona, Sitges is almost 44 km² in size and there is enough festivity and fun for everyone in unlimited quantities. This is probably why so many people from other countries have flocked to the town.
The population of Sitges has almost doubled in the last ten years and has become multicultural. Today about a third of the residents are immigrants from the UK, Scandinavia, France and the Netherlands. The growing popularity of the resort provoked a jump in housing prices in 2008. Today it is virtually Spain's international city with the highest real estate prices in the country.
Sitges: from Neanderthals to members of an unconventional orientation
It is unlikely that anyone can give an exact date when Sitges was founded. Archaeological excavations indicate that the area was inhabited as early as the 6th century BC. At the beginning of our era here was built a Roman villa. The very name of the town says that there were storage facilities for cereals. Sitges means "deep pit" in Catalan.
By the 11th century, the surrounding countryside was full of various castles, around which small towns slowly sprouted. Sitges was no exception. It and a number of other castles were under the authority of the castle of Ribes. But since 1308 the rights to the castle of Sitges passed from one owner to another.
The most important of these was Bernat de Fonoyar, who founded the hospital of Sant Joan Baptista in the town. As Fonoyar had no heirs, he gave the castle to the religious community of La Pia Almonia. But for another 300 years after that it was constantly proving its right to own the castle. And the wars of the XVII and XVIII centuries significantly adjusted its appearance and defense.
But since the 60's of the last century, the city gradually turned into a center of counterculture. Since 1968, for example, the International Fantastic Film Week festival has been held here. It was one of the first cinematic events to show science fiction and horror. And since the 90s, the city has become a vacation center for people with non-traditional orientation from all over Europe.
