A Stroll in Sitges

A stroll through Sitges is the best way to view this small Spanish town. While it is known primarily for its beaches history is abundant in this small fishing village turned vacation destination. An imprint has been left by the Catalans, Romans, Arabs, phoneticians and many other cultures that passed through this shore land. Today the port is overshadowed by the 13 beaches along the coast. Beaches welcome you at the end of all the major walk ways through the city. As you near the main beach there is a monument for Bacardi which we realized was from Cubans who had gone to the Americans then brought money back to Sitges. During the time of free commerce in the Americas Sitges began building it's image with their own small commercial fleet that is now replaced by the yacht club and sporting boats.
As we headed around the old church out on the rocks overlooking the boats we saw an old door way into what we thought would be the church courtyard, but was actually a cemetery. The cemetery is built up in layers of family slots along the walls then a large area in the middle filled with grandiose pantheons and monuments to Sitges families. It was very well kept and reflected different personalities in the monuments and different architecture some had pillars and gods in a more neo classical approach, some were art noveau and others were very naturalistic like a giant cracked and mossy table, though the majority were in a Catalan take on art nouveau sculpture from the early 1900's.
We had marked on our map where significant spots were located that we wanted to reach on our walk, only we did not label the destinations so we had fun guessing which where the importance spots and their history. Some we could work out such as the Bacardi monument and other finds left us confused such as the connection of the last name Ferrat which was prominent throughout the city and in the cemetery but was also the name of their most famous museum. It turns out that Cau Ferrat the museum is named for “place made of Iron” in Spanish, but iron working is well known in Catalan regions so maybe that is the connection?
Looking down from this church complex beneath the hills yet overlooking the sea all the beaches appear very similar with their sandy smooth beaches and rolling waves yet they have actually taken on individual personalities. While the clientele is fluid and the local population very welcoming the beaches have stratified along imagined borders. There is the main recreational beach, the gay beaches and those for the 'nude'. Sitges has a very high gay visiting population and you can see that the city has started to form itself to the visiting populations. Up from the 'gay' beach there are establishments and stores that cater to them although the culture is very integrated and we saw many pride banners throughout the city. The gayinsitges.com website actually refers to Sitges as 'Catalonia's famous gay coastal resort.” The take pride in their acceptance of the foreign population and their relaxed atmosphere, you can find many people that speak both English and German because of their focus on tourism. They also take great pride in the appearance of this quaint town and along the white washed houses ran a tidy blue Mediterranean style border. Even the street signs were made of painted tiles that reflected the Arabic influence, their artistic past and their pride in history. If you wish to continue your walk outside the bounds of the beach and city center the Natural Park of Garraf offers a refreshing alternative to the more popular beaches immediately outside the city center. Although with the light sea spray and beautiful blue waters it is easy to pass days only wandering between the city streets and the local beaches.

Cemetery of Sitges info: http://www.gaudiallgaudi.com/ACe06Sitges.htm
Short history and offers a listing of beaches broken by category: http://sitges.costasur.com/en/history.html
The easiest type of Sitges website to locate: http://www.gayinsitges.com/