Sitges is a lovely Mediterranean coastal town, a seaside resort some 35 km southwest of Barcelona in Catalonia.
Named ‘the St. Tropez of Spain’ by the Telegraph this former fishermen village boasts 17 beautiful beaches and is home to famous festivals including its International Film Festival, its annual Carnaval, Gay Pride or Vintage Car Rally.
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Sitges is a seaside town with great beaches and excellent tourist facilities. Recognized as one of the most charming towns and prestige of the Catalan coast, enjoys a mild and temperate micro climate, which means that visitors can enjoy enviable temperatures every month of the year Sitges has one of most vibrant and hippest gay scenes on the coast.
Beaches
Sitges is a maritime town with large tourist infrastructure and facilities. With three local marinas, it has more than any other town in Spain. In addition to tourism, there are fishing and shoe-making and artistic businesses, though the former now consist of smaller workshops. The town was rebuilt in the last century, to accommodate increased tourism. There are some 13 individually named beaches along a 2.5 km promenade, the most famous being San Sebastian, and 17 beaches in total are adorning the coastline of the town.
Town
Noted for its outstanding location, the Church of Sant Bartomeu i Santa Tecla, better known as La Punta at the end of the promenade in a bastion above steps and a coastal cliff, has become one of the most recognized icons in Sitges, much photographed and painted. Its structure is quite peculiar, because it has two bell towers, and possesses one of the watch towers that served the population to calculate the time. Its facade is quite simple but the frame where it is located is incomparable.
Gastronomy
Xató is Sitges’ most typical dish and its ingredients are endive salad, cod, tuna, anchovies, aubergine and black olives. However, the essence of the dish is its sauce, made with scalded chillies, toasted almonds, garlic, olive oil, salt, vinegar and hot peppers. The complete xató meal consists of some different omelettes or fricandó (a typical Catalan hot meal) and as a dessert, coca de llardons (typical Catalan cake, made from pork scratchings), served with a bottle of Penedès black wine.
Sitges cuisine includes many Catalan dishes such as rice Sitges style, stewed sepia with potatoes and allioli – Catalan garlic sauce, bull de tonyina made with tuna fish, fideua – similar to paella, but with noodles and seafood, or stuffed peppers with cod. Malvasia is a delicate liquor wine served in Sitges, primarily with dessert and its name malvasia comes from the Peloponnesian port Monemvasía. In Sitges, the Hospital Sant Joan Baptista continues producing and marketing malvasia according to the traditional method from its own vines and within its own cellars. The proceeds go to charity and the annual production is approximately 4,000 bottles.
Find out more information and plan your trip at www.visitsitges.com. Cover image by Jorge Franganillo from Barcelona, Spain (Sitges: Església de Sant Bartolomé i Santa Tecla) via Wikimedia Commons