Tossa de Mar : Cape Tossa :

Only Medieval fortified town on the Catalan coast

(Map) Directions from Sitges :
Avoid Tolls C32, 130km, 2 hours 10 mins : With Tolls AP-7 139km 1 hour 37 mins

• Roman villa and the walled old town, Vila Vella, of medieval origin
• Cape Tossa & old town walls were declared a national historic and artistic monument
• Only surviving example of a medieval fortified town on the Catalan coast
• Vila Vella, the ‘walled-in’ old town, built between the 12th and 14th centuries when Tossa de Mar facing the attacks from pirates
• 1186, Ramon of Berga the abbot of the Monastery of Ripoll, granted inhabitants charter as a promontory (defensible dominant outcrop)
• Promontory, originally known as Mont Guardí
• In 1931, the site was declared a national historic monument
• Two of the five original towers were destroyed (are gone)
• In 1387, reconstruction work was carried out, resulting in constructions seen now
• Walled town began to deteriorate badly in the mid-19th century, but repair work Carried out in 1923, 1966, 1989 and 1990
• In the early-1930s, a large community of local and foreign artists Became Established in Tossa, Including Marc Chagall, Georges Kars, Olga Sacharoff, André Masson, Rafel Benedict, Peter Créixams Enric Casanovas Francisco Domingo, etc..
• Can Magi Tower (Torre dels Moros – Moorish Tower) 15th-16th century watchtower, to guard against the raids of Turkish & Barbary Coast pirates.
  Who regularly attacked this part of the coast
• Much of the sentry path is conserved, with loopholes for firing and defence
• Also wooden floor planks and staircase inside the Torre de les Hores tower
• Walled city entered via a semi-circular arched gateway once emblazoned with three coats of arms
• At height it had Gothic-style church, now in ruins, and some 80 houses.
  Many are still inhabited PDF

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Diving

DIVING : May 12, 2012 25 mins at 15meters DIVING

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