An angler, a citizen of Palafrugell, fell 8 metres at Cap de Frares near the lighthouse Sant Sebastià, while practising his hobby. The severely injured person was transported by rescue forces by helicopter to the hospital Josep Trueta of Girona.

During the Easter holidays La Bisbal is offering free guided tours through the old part of town, to the mediaeval castle and to the church “Pietat”.

The façade of the “Torre Bisbal” building in La Bisbal will be renovated and the balconies all renewed. This follows tough negotiations, since the owners of the 78 residential properties could not agree for a long time on the distribution of costs of 1.5 million euros.

Palafrugell Council is starting a campaign to control the overpopulation of pigeons in the town centre.

The tourist office of Calella de Palafrugell in the “La Perola” building  has been renovated and has now reopened. “La Perola” was built in the first half of the 19th century and is listed as national cultural property.

Palamós is beginning a campaign with the slogan “In Palamós the summer is longer”. It starts on Easter Sunday with the first bathe in the tides of the Mediterranean and draws attention to the fact that Palamós offers a continuous series of events for tourists from March up until the end of November.

At the monastery church of  “Mare de Déu dels Àngels” at Sant Feliu de Guíxols the celebration of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) will begin at 11am on Good Friday.

Sant Feliu de Guíxols is building about 400 new parking places in its centre.

Torroella de Montgrí is organising a model ship exhibition. Participants are still being sought; anyone interested should contact the “Àrea de Cultura”, C/Major 31 or by telephone 972 75 73 01.

The winners of the photo competition in Platja d'Aro with the topic of “carnival” are David Bañeras, Ani Micharet and Nicole Gulau.

Lloret de Mar Council has taken the first steps towards building a recycling plant beside the existing rubbish depot at “Les Alegries”. The cost of 30-40 million euros is being met with European funds.

The level of indebtedness of private households and businesses in Girona province is at its historical highest. At the year’s end they owed 25,244 million euros to the banks, 18% more than in the previous year.

The Chamber of Commerce of Palamós will participate for the second time in Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention in Miami (the USA), the world’s most important fair for cruises.

The city hall of Palafrugell will be open to its citizen in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday until 19 o'clock.

Platja d'Aro participated in the tourism fair ITB in Berlin.

Palafrugell will soon begin to renew the lighting on approximately 60 roads.

Santa Cristina d'Aro and the “Diputació de Girona” jointly purchased the Finca “el Balcà “, 7 hectares of land at the left river bank of the Riu Ridaura, as part of a planned nature park “parc fluvial del Ridaura.”

A fire involved 1600 square metres of area in Begur between the Urbanisation Pic del Ocells and the road to Sa Tuna. Despite strong winds the fire brigade was able to rapidly control the flames and prevent harm to parsons or property.

On the Avinguda Jaume I in Girona two stones fell from a building four meters to the sidewalk. Fortunately, at the time of the accident, shortly before eight o'clock in the morning, no passer-by was nearby.

According to an inquiry of the centre for foreign employees in the province of Girona 34.26% of them do not understand any Catalan. Only 5.25% say they are capable of speaking it and 2.07% can read and write Catalan.

Girona is the only province of Spain in which the conservative party [PP] could not get at least one seat in parliament during the recent Spanish elections.

The struggle around the property Can Pujadas continues. This will be the site for a future swimming pool for Lloret de Mar. The owners demand 4 million euro for property, in the course of an expropriation 3.3 million euro was awarded to them. The city hall considers the property overpriced since this level of price is only seen for property right on the sea. It will appeal against the decision to the highest Court of Justice from Catalonia.

The city hall of Santa Cristina d'Aro will consider the possibility of connecting the massif De les Gavarres and the Ardenya Cadireta with an ecological passage. At present the ecological equilibrium is disturbed by the motorway. The city hall considers the building of a tunnel to allow animals to pass under the roadway.

All restaurants of the province Girona that belong to the system “ticket restaurant” can follow a theme to promote healthy nutrition. If they wish to participate they must offer a menu with first course of at least one vegetable dish and a second course of at least one fish dish.

Hardly a municipality of the province of Girona is not concerned with the continuing drought. Three quarters of the localities are in a state of emergency II, which requires drastic measures for water conservation.

In the old town centre of Llagostera the electrical wires are shifted underground. The work will be suspended during the Easter Holidays to not inconvenience the tourism business.

Also golf courses may no longer water their greens in places where water consumption is restricted. This applies even to the Platja de Pals golf club, which normally waters the greens from its own six wells. The club has now put in a request for special permission.

Girona Council is changing its Tree Day for schoolchildren. Normally on this day, pupils plant new trees. Instead of this, they can expect a trip to the Sau reservoir, to study the drought and the resulting lack of water.

For the second successive time, students at the Vilamalla hotel management school (Alt Empordà) have won the competition for new generation cooks at the “Tecnotast” catering trade fair in Girona.

Within the next ten months a new bus route will be set up between Lloret de Mar and Blanes, particularly tailored to the needs of the rush hour.

The Costa Brava is celebrating its centenary. It owes its name to an article published in 1908 by Ferran Agulló in “La Veu de Catalunya”.

The Pla de l'Estany district is installing new rubbish containers for green garden waste. It would be nice if all areas followed its example.

The “Estalpackaging” company in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, which specialises in the packing of wine, beverages and food, is opening a branch in Shanghai.

The “La Caixa” bank is offering (nearly) the same bundle of services for the new generation of mobile phones (3G) as a cash-point dispenser,  including, for example, control of account movements. Getting cash is, of course, not included!

The local council of La Bisbal is publishing a new information bulletin, which appears quarterly.

The local council of La Bisbal is following the example of other municipalities by limiting the use of tap water because of the continuing drought. For example, it is now forbidden to use tap water to fill private swimming pools, to water the garden or to wash the car, among other things.

The low-cost airline Ryanair is revamping its web site. In order to celebrate its completion, starting from 26 February, one million tickets will be offered for the price of one cent, airport taxes included. Girona will benefit from the special offer for flights to Madrid, Granada and Oporto.

The days of the old barracks of Begur are counted. On their area soon 12 subsidised low-rent housings are to be built.

In Palamós the second phase of the renovation of the old part of town began; this concerns the roads of the zone “Les cases dels pescadors”.

Tossa de Mar has a Web site in order, over which the reservation of overnight accommodation can be booked: This includes not only hotel beds, but also camping sites and vacation homes.

The roads of Begur are improved at an expenditure of 1.108 million euro. At present the appropriate work begins. They are to be finished before the main travel time. Also the road of Begur to Sa Tuna is renewed.

The interpretation centre for the lighthouses of the Mediterranean and the bar at the lighthouse of Tossa de Mar are temporarily closed, since the conductions are renewed there.

The levy 1948 in La Bisbal prepares a common meal in the hotel S'Agaró, to take place on 8 June. The participants must be only either born in La Bisbal or live there and be born, naturally in the year 1948.

The old football field of Palafrugell is re-designed as a parking lot for 111 vehicles.

The city hall of Platja d'Aro makes well-known the economy measures recommended by the federal state government because of the water scarceness into force. Drinking water from the public water supply may not be used any more for watering gardens or public places, nor for filling private swimming pools or to other cleaning purposes, among other things the measures applies both to private households as well as to public mechanisms. Even the private car washing with the water hose is for the time being no more permitted. Who wants to clean his car must go into the car wash.

The cemetery of Palafrugell was increased by 160 new burial places; the costs amounted to 147.000 euro

The city hall of Palamós undertakes measures for water saving because of the continued dryness. Adjusted is the automatic irrigation of the parks, also the showers at the beach will be closed for the time being. The water for the cleaning of the city is referred of the purification plant.

Santa Cristina d'Aro organises a Catalan course for beginners, from 22 February to the end of May. The course is free, details in the city hall.

The city hall of Torroella de Montgrí creates colonies for cats without masters at different points in the place. These should being helpful for the well-being of the cats as well as for the public cleanliness.

	The city Segura de la Sierra in the province Jaen shows for some time interest for a partnership with Pals. Also Pals welcomes the intentions, since many of its inhabitants originate from Segura de la Sierra. Officially however a partnership is not possible for cities of the same country. Pals and Segura de la Sierra work however on plans to give to their city friendship some sort of status.
Segura de la Sierra

On carnival Sunday the streets filled themselves at the Costa Brava with carnival parades and numerous onlookers. Occasional rainfalls could hardly subdue the enthusiasm of the carnival revellers. Even in Santa Cristina d'Aro, where a rainstorm occurred during the parade. In spite of that the 60 caroches continued their way.

The carnival of Platja d'Aro announces record levels: 6000 active participants and about 100.000 spectators.

The cork museum of Palafrugell starts a campaign which is to encourage the recycling of the corks from wine and champagne bottles into the public consciousness. Needed corks can be delivered to a specific container at the museum.

The 1999 folks in Italy founded the “Città Slow" movement – aimed to slow down the frenetic life rhythm in the cities. Meanwhile numerous international cities have joined the movement.  In the Empordà interest for Città Slow is growing and already includes Pals, Begur and Palafrugell. In order to be able to join, the cities must fulfil certain conditions. For example the number of inhabitants must not exceed 50.000.

Pals

During the winter opening times for the hazardous waste disposal site in Pals: Tuesday until Saturday 9 to 13 and of 15 until 18 o'clock.

The town hall of Torroella de Montgrí has an employee who cares for the interests of new citizens.  She is supposed to achieve support in the case of all pending questions and problems and to facilitate the prompt integration of the new citizens.

In Palamós and Calella de Palafrugell as well as in Llançà and Port de la Selva (Alt Empordà) medusas were discovered in the wintertime. This rather unusual phenomenon is due, according to the biologists, to the especially warm winter and also to the lack of rainfall. During the last years it was found, that not only the heat, but also extraordinary dryness invites the medusas for the visit close to shore.

The rainfalls of the last days were very welcome but could hardly change the water scarcity.

Since this year parents get 2500 euros from the state for the birth or adoption of a child. In January 559 families in the province of Girona enjoyed the pleasure of this bonus.

January brought a rise in the numbers of unemployed in the province of Girona. 1861 employees lost their job; in total 26.952 persons are currently unemployed.

The health centres and hospitals of the region lament a lack of native doctors. In part this can be compensated by the hiringobligation of foreign physicians.  In the hospitals of Girona 35 of 170 doctors are foreigners

The emblematic bar “La Parra” in the carrer Santa Eulàlia of Lloret de Mar, well-known for their Tapas, does not exist any longer. The building had to make place for a new building.

In Palafrugell the foreign population amounts to approximately 24%. The PSC, in the city hall in the opposition, energizes to create a group, which promotes the togetherness and the cultural integration and thus to prevent or at least defuse possible conflicts.

The citizens of Platja d'Aro are dissatisfied with the automatic switchboard of the city hall. If one does not know the direct-inward dialling, which one would like to call, it can become difficult to arrive. Many citizens would rather like it, as it seems, if the city hall establishes again a classical switchboard, in which one is received by humans.

	The Department of the Environment undertakes various urgent works on the path in Calonge along the coast. Between “Ses Torretes” and the “Cap Roig“ the path remains closed during the summer months, since its condition does not permit walking there at present yet.

The new four lane road C-31 between Palamós and Palafrugell already encounters criticism. According to the delegate Xavier Dilmé the guard rails do not correspond to the safety requirements for motorcyclists.

The citizens' initiative “Salvem la Devesa” organizes a camping camp on 2 and 3 April, in order to protest against the planned building of a gymnasium in the park “Devesa” in Girona.

The musicians of Tossa de Mar and its music school organized in the discotheque “Tu Rai”  a twelve hours continuing Music marathon. Purpose of the exercise is the collecting of money, in order to start thereby the financing of two sound proof practice areas. These shall be rented to all musicians at reasonable prices.

Maria Teresa Ferrés, mayoress of Palamós, confirmed that the subsidies of the federal state government for a new, covered swimming pool are secured. The swimming pool is to be built in Calonge.

In Lloret de Mar exist plans to connect the city by train with the airport Girona. This is however future music. So far the federal state government faced these plans rather sceptically.

Palafrugell replaces unattractive waste-paper baskets and flower pots in the local centre; the action costs 24.5 thousand euro.

	The level of the artificial lake of Susqueda is still sinking; at present only 24% of its capacity is filled. Meanwhile building remainders see the light, which were until now under the water surface.

The municipality budget of Lloret de Mar amounts for 2008 to approximately 60 million Euros, investments and purchases included. Costs for the building or the planning of a public swimming hall do not appear.

The tourism office of Palamós gives Harlequin hats for the carnival at everyone. Thus the participation in the carnival shall be animated.

Lloret de Mar resumed an old idea: The city wishes to be united by train with Girona. Lloret suggests a location between Lloret and Blanes as a location of the new railway station, so that both cities would profit by the new railway line. This idea is still but a dream. For it to be realised would take more than ten years.

The association of the businessmen of Palamós (Fecotur) awarded the prizes for its Christmas sale initiative. Montse González received the main prize 3000 euros, which she can spend by credit card in the participating shops.

Palamós will be without a library during the next weeks. During this time the relocation of the old library into the new building at the Plaça dels Països Catalans will occur.  Of the 1200 square metres of the new library, 670 are dedicated to the public.

The photo book  "Beach clubs, sea, see, seen" (Loft Publications) places the bar "Terrassa Punta de Garbí" in Lloret de Mar as one of the 30 best beach cafes of the world. If you would like to visit the bar you’ll have to wait since the facility is closed for the winter and will re-open in April.  The book on the other hand is available, now, in English and Spanish.

Every citizen of Girona consumes, on average, 225 litres of water per day while the Barcelonese is satisfied with a daily water consumption of 130 litres. The institute ICRA, concerned with water conservation, send a reminder of water consumption best practices to homes in the province of Girona.

The small town of Ultramort will get a civil centre; the project is budgeted at 554 thousand euros.

The church “església del Carme de Palamós" will undergo renovation work, which will last about six months. Then they’ll have a museum that reflects upon the history of the place.

The rainfalls in the year 2007 in the province Girona were 427 litres per square metre. The last time we had such little rain was in the year 1973.

The country road C-31 between Palamós and Palafrugell is now already operational with four lanes. Some detailed work is still missing, but this should not hinder the traffic flow.

La Bisbal wants to again organise this year a ceramics fair.

Starting this spring, some new air connections between the northern French city of Lille and Girona. The low-cost airline Centralwings,a subsidiary of the national Polish airline LOT, will start four weekly flights..

Despite the promise of the political Parties, Tossa de Mar will not get a new kindergarten. The instruction ministry had refused the necessary subsidies. This subsidises a kindergarten place with 5000 euros, this is valid, however, only for the creation of a new place and not for the transfer of an already existing one.

The cinema museum of Girona was set up in its present form ten years ago. The organisers will schedule in June 2008 an international congress with the topic “Beginnings of the cinema as seventh art” to celebrate the first decade.

The entrepreneurs of Lloret de Mar drew a balance of the year 2007 with regard to the tourism: Although the number of the tourists climbed, the restaurants of the middle and higher price ranges recorded significant losses. On the other hand the fast-food restaurants strengthened their position in the market.

The fishing cooperative of Palamós recorded a receipt record during the year 2007 of 13.288.000 euros, 20% more than in the prior year.

20,2% more passengers used the buses of Girona during the year 2007. This prompts the town hall to keep on extending and improving the public traffic connections..

Dolors Moret Ferriol from Palamós celebrated her hundred year birthday. The mayoress M. Teresa Ferrés congratulated the jubilee personally with a bunch of flowers.

The government team (CiU) of Tossa de Mar opened an office to receive the complaints of citizens with regard to the building plan (POUM) adopted in the year 2006.

During the tourism fair Vakantiebeurs 2008 in Utrecht (Holland) Platja d'Aro has announced that it will participate in the year 2008 at least 17 tourism fairs with national and international character.

Tossa de Mar plans improvements for the “Museu del Far.” Although income and expenditures are out of balance, the museum will remain open.

Palafrugell will invest, during 2008, 161 thousand euro for the cleaning of its beaches Calella, Tamariu and Llafranc.

Two companies are interested in building a solar cell park in Palafrugell and have made inquiries to the city hall.

The lighting of the parish church Sant Romà in Lloret de Mar was renewed. The new lamps use less energy than the older lights.

In the spring 2008 near at the airport Girona a completely new hotel will open. The Sallés hotel aeroport Girona will be a four stars hotel. Its one hundred beds are particularly aimed at the traveller who wants quality overnight accommodations before an early flight.

	The Benedictine monastery of Sant Feliu de Guíxols becomes the home of an art centre, which will show the Catalan works of the collection Thyssen Bornemisza. The project is committed to run at least two years. Girona and Santa Cristina d'Aro received from the federal state government a prize to acknowledge their efforts to involve citizens in the decisions of the city hall.

In the province Girona 131 localities as at risk for flooding. So far however only 40 municipalities have emergency plans in the case of high water and/or high seas.

The Catalan songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat received the medal of the legion of honour from the hands of the French Ambassador, Bruno Delaye for his earnings around the liberty and the policy.

The fishery museum of Palamós retained the honour “Pla de Qualitat Turística en Destinació “, with the note ”excellent.”

The winners of the Spanish Petanque championship in Sant Feliu de Guíxols are: 1 FC Badalona (Catalonia), 2 CP Montmeló (Catalonia), 3 CP Pino Montano (Sevilla), 4 CP Archena (Múrcia).

Starting from January 2008 the American television station PBS will present as series on the Spanish catering trade “Made in Spain”. During shooting in Palamós the kitchen boss José Andrés [now working in Washington, DC, USA] presented for this project his “Gamba de Palamós”.

The museum of the Mediterranean (Museu de la Mediterrània, C. Ullà, 27; Torroella de Montgrí) will be open during the winter months on weekdays beginning at 17 o'clock.

The city hall of Torroella de Montgrí and L’Estartit increased the fees for new building permits by 13,64%.

The police discovered on the highway A-2 toward Lleida four caravans, which had been stolen from a camping site in Llafranc. The thieves, four Slovaks, had falsified papers.

The president of the Federación de Hostelería of the province Girona, Antoni Escudero, initiates a new plan to help Catalonia meet the touristic goals of the Mediterranean. This particularly calls for improved environmental factors and to promote the commercial potential of the region.

The councillor Huguet denies that the province of Girona is in a crisis. In absolute numbers there have never been as many tourists as were present this season. The proportionally falling rate of overnight accommodation use is only due to the higher number of visitors.

The hens of the race Nagasaki were the stars of the poultry exhibition “Fira de les out” in Camellera. This year more than 1600 birds were presented.  The exhibition attracted about 2700 visitors.

The centres for primary care assistance in the province Girona begin offering flu inoculations. The health department of the federal state government makes 122,000 inoculations available.  These are primarily meant for older persons.

The uncertainty in the cities, noise pollution and poor communications are, in order, the top concerns of the citizens of the province of Girona when they are asked for their opinions about their hometowns. On the other hand they cite peace, quality of life and good situation as the most frequently mentioned reasons for their choice of residence.

The city hall of Tossa de Mar submitted requests to the Ministry for agriculture, fishing and nutrition, in order to declare the sea-zone Roja as a natural protection zone (reserva pesquera). The area will be approximately 100 hectares before the beach Mar Menuda, which is particularly attractive to and frequented by divers. Some days ago, on 23 September, a 53 years old diver from Barcelona died in an accident in this zone. Should be corresponded to the inquiries that would concern not only the divers, but also the local diving schools. However the mayoralty assures that divers are, and will be absolutely welcome.  The purpose is to balance the needs of divers and the ecology.

Tossa de Mar

The city hall of Begur plans to increase the Plusvalia from 2,6 % to 3,1%. This tax is levied by the municipalities on area and housing sales during durations of one to five years. Begur wants to make building speculation more difficult.

The protected islands illes Medes in Estartit collected record fees in 2006 of 233.798 €, mostly for diving. The city hall regrets that the income has not been followed up with any related investments.

The days of the sea-ecology in Palafrugell offered explanations of the condition of the Mediterranean along the Costa Brava. They stated that the pisciculture enterprises at the coast produce much CO2, which is not desirable. Also the sports ports were analyzed by the participants of the conference.  The group felt that the ports should not be, increased, as is currently planned in many places, and that the building of new sports ports should be stopped. Also, strong objections were voiced expressed against the building of underground parking lots under the beach promenades, as is planned in Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Lloret de Mar.

For the past year a pilot program in Catalonia facilitates immigrants to return to their homeland, if they could not integrate themselves into Catalan culture. The immigrants receive tickets for their return, money for the journey and a small financially assistance to restart at home. The immigrants must be fairly satisfied with their status, for only 20 have accepted the offer.

Experts expect that the effects of the international mortgage crisis will reach Spain in the year 2008. They forecast that the expected 3.4% economic growth will not materialize and the projection must be revised downward.

Sant Feliu de Guíxols, now that the season has ended, begins with the improvement of the of the old part of town

Regularly operating motorbuses, which serve the airport of Girona, see themselves confronted with traffic problems. The parking lots in front of the terminal, which are reserved for public transport, are often blocked by private vehicles.  These vehicles choose this convebnie3nt spot to unload or load passengers, but they prevent the buses from entering or leaving.  Since there is no other more suitable legal spots to drop off and load up. There is a problem seeking a solution.

In the province of Girona 317 pupils are requesting Islamic religious education for the school year 2007/2008.

During the last few days about 30 dead ducks were found in the river riera de Calonge. Experts from the Department of the Environment will try to identify the cause.

The city hall of Begur has decided to reorganize the Carrer del Mar and the adjacent parking lots. The planned costs will be 312 thousand euro.

Also, official representatives of the travel agencies oppose against the planned building of an underground parking lot at the Passeig Jacint Verdaguer in Lloret de Mar. They believe that the planned work will obstruct the structure of Lloret for a long time and that there are simpler and more economical solutions to create more parking spaces.

The Grup Especial d´Activitats Subaquàtiques (GEAS) with seat in L'Estartit is called for assistance whenever there are problems with diving activities. This year however they were not as busy as usual; the number of the requests for GEAS assistance fell during the first eight months of the year by 25%.

The environmental protection organizations Depana, SOS Empordanet and Gent del Ter start a joint campaign against the underground multi-storey car park at the beach promenade, planned by the city hall of Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

The General Consul of Switzerland in Barcelona, Hans Ulrich Rotach, visited the city hall of Castell Platja d´Aro for a reception with living Swiss residents of the town.

The city hall of Torroella de Montgrí adopted plans for the reorganization of different roads in the centre of L'Estartit. For these projects 892,833 euro of subsidies are available, the remainder will be financed by the city hall as well as through a special tax to neighbouring properties. This first phase of the project concerns the roads del Port, de la Platja, Ter Vell, L’Escala and Pelayo.

	The association Amics de la UNESCO de Palafrugell regrets that in Llafranc (Palafrugell) a public green area was appropriated for a private Urbanisation. The city hall of Palafrugell recognizes the controversy but their point of view is that the properties did not have alternative uses.
Llafranc

The association Amics de la Unesco from Palafrugell energized the city hall by means of an inquiry to remove all buoys before the beaches; only in such a way the quality of the sea water can become improved and the prospering of the underwater world secured.

The farmstead Mas Salvi in Pals, originating from the XVII century, is during one week the scene of an intensive course in English organized by the organization Pueblo Inglés. During this time the only certified language is the English on the farmstead.  In the course 15 Spaniards and 15 English-speaking persons from England, America and Australia participate. This is the first course of Pueblo Inglés in Catalonia.

The new opening times for nightclubs during the summer time concern the localities Begur, Blanes, L'Estartit, Lloret de Mar, Palamós and Platja d'Aro in the Baix Empordà. There discotheques can open to 7 o'clock and music bars to 4 o'clock on the weekends.

The commission for urbanization in Girona forbade definitely the building of 1000 houses on 85 hectares terrain between the quarters of Lloret Blau and Lloret Verd in Lloret de Mar. The commission forbade likewise the building of a golf course (Garrigolf) with 370 dwellings in the small place Garrigoles (155 inhabitants).

The environmental protection organization Greenpeace regrets the degradation of the Costa Brava by exaggerated building activity. As the only positive example Greenpeace quoted Tossa de Mar. There properties were defined as not cultivatable, although this would have been actually possible. Also the building of new port facilities is to Greenpeace a thorn in the eye. According to the plans of the port authority of Ports de la Generalitat  in the province Girona 433 new anchorages can develop .

Tossa de Mar

Sant Feliu de Guíxols distributes ashtrays, in the hope that they will be used during the summer at its beaches. The city hall sees this action as a general request for bathers to do their part to keep the beaches clean.

In Sant Feliu de Guíxols Pere Albó i Marlés (PSC) will replace the current mayor Miquel Lobato (CiU). Pere Albó will form a government with Socialistes de Catalunya, Tots per Sant Feliu, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds. In the 28 years of Spanish democracy Pere Albó i Marlés is the fourth socialist mayor of Feliu de Guíxols.

In Palamós Maria Teresa Ferrés (PSC) became mayoress with the support of PSC, CiU and Ciutadans de Palamós.

Since the left parties (PSC, ICV i ERC) of Platja d'Aro could not agree on a coalition, Joan Giraut (CiU) remains the mayor, for the fifth consecutive term. He must, however, form a minority government.

In Torroella de Montgrí a UPM and ERC governmental pact assures that the eight year of Joan Margall as mayor will continue, again. The current mayor Carles Negre (CiU) respected the pact, regretted however that the party with the highest vote total must be in the opposition.

In Palafrugell the PSC, although the party with the greatest number of votes, will sit in the opposition bench. The party’s leading candidate Juli Fernández announced radical but constructive opposition positions. The new mayor will be Lluís Medir (Entesa), with the help of the ERC and the CiU.

Also in La Bisbal there will be a change of government. Lluís Sais (ERC) will become the new mayor. His predecessor Ramon Romaguera (PSC) will assume his new role as leader of the opposition.  He has announced that he will use the opposition bench very aggressively.

In Lloret de Mar Xavier Crespo (CiU) continues as mayor.

The signs at the round way along the sea of Sant Feliu de Guíxols to the beach Sant Pol were in the Spanish language and not in Catalan; this is not a provocation, and there was no malice intended, but it was merely a mistake which will be immediately corrected..

The football camp of Tossa de Mar gets artificial turf. According to plan this will be in operation in August.

Sant Feliu de Guíxols is afflicted at present with a strike of the garbage disposal service.

A series of break-ins at business in the centre of Lloret de Mar has forced the city hall to strengthen the police operational readiness level.

	The city hall of Pals requested a subsidy from the Diputació de Girona for the renovation of its landmark, the Torre de les Hores (tower of the hours). The renovation work concerns mainly the inside of the tower and for added security. Nevertheless the top of the tower will not be accessible to the public.
Torre de les Hores

Lloret de Mar can make the buildings of the Finca Can Pujades after an affirmative judicial ruling. This is the last property which needed to be expropriated to build a sport area. Included will be a new urban swimming pool.  There is still one sticking point since the owner of the Finca agrees not with the payment, i.e. 1.6 million euro. If the municipality and the owner do not agree, the remuneration will be set by the court.

Since last week the discotheques can stay open on weekends until 6 o'clock in the morning.  The prior rules only allowed discos to stay open until five o'clock.

On Platja d’Aro there were some happy people who played the blind lottery (ONCE). The seller Ángel de la Peña Bartolomé sold 10 lottery tickets with the number 91787. The lucky winners together will receive 2.025 million euro.

According to the data of the Institut Nacional d´Estadística (INE) over 700 thousand inhabitants live in the province Girona. On 1 January 2007 704,788 citizens were registered, 128.374 of them foreigners (18.2%).  Foreigners are primarily responsible for the strong demographic growth of our region. This trend applies as well to the entire Spanish state. On 1 January 45 million inhabitants were counted, including 4.482.568 foreigners 8.17% more than in the previous year.

The school of music of Tossa de Mar offers numerous courses during the summer, from instruction in classical instruments to Rock music and digital music production.

On 15 June 19.30h in the Espai d'Art Contemporani Can Mario of Palafrugell will see the inauguration of the exhibitions “Obres seleccionades del II Premi d'escultures Palafrugell” and Joan Fuster “Pintures i aquarel·les”. Both exhibitions will run until 15 September.Tossa de Mar invested 749,660 Euros for the purchase of new garbage disposal vehicles.

The building of a coalition for the town council of Girona has become particularly tough. The parties PSC, ERC and ICV EUiA have not yet been able to agree, and have expressed their dissatisfaction with the continuation of the negotiations.

The negotiations over the future mayor and the composition of the local council of Castell Platja d’Aro are still completely up in the air.

In Pals the Partit Socialista de Pals, with 3 seats plans a coalition with the Esquerra Republicana and the Independents (in each case two seats). The election winner CiU (4 seats) finds itself sitting in the opposition bench.

A 29 a year old woman became unconscious when diving in the bay Mar Menuda of Tossa de Mar.  Her friends were able to get her to the beach. She was transported by helicopter to the hospital in Girona. The accident happened during a diving course for beginners, in only 5 meters of water.

The conclusion ball of the Festes de Primavera in Palafrugell ended with a fight. Four persons were arrested, a policeman was slightly hurt.

Palamós plans a new maritime station to facilitate the anchoring of the cruise ships. From the new port a regular navigation connection with Mallorca will also be established. The construction work will begin after the current season.

Sant Feliu de Guíxols received the Bandera Blava for all three beaches of the city: la platja de Sant Feliu, Sant Pol and Canyerets. In the last year only two beaches receives the desired honour.  This year’s addition is Canyerets.

In La Bisbal the PSC-PM-PM became the most selected list, Esquerra-AM with five seats became the second political force. The CIU lost a seat and ICV-EUIA-EMP received one. The participation of 62% was three per cent below earlier elections, but much higher than the average in Catalonia….

Big victory of the PSC-PM-PM of Palamós, which increased from 6 seats to 8, while the CIU lost 2.  Remarkable is the success of the new political force CdeP (citizens of Palamós) which is represented for the first time with 2 local council seats.

In St Feliu de Guíxols the government changes with an overwhelming victory of the PSC-PM-PM, which climbed from 3 to 7 seats.  Descent for the CIU, which lost 6 seats.  The third political strength of the municipality is now TSF (all for Sant Feliu) with 4 seats more than 2003.  The election turnout was 56%, 8 per cent less than in the last elections.

In Begur again the CIU triumphed, although it lost two seats. The PSC-PM-PM will be again for the next 4 years second political strength, although it also lost a seat. For the first time the IBE-EMP is represented in the local council, with one seat.  The election participation was very high with 67,26%.

The maritime rescue saved close to Begur two French boat passengers of a sailing boat. The rescue action took approximately six hours; a helicopter, the ship Salvamar Sirius and a trading vessel participated in it.

The first festival del Còmic in Torroella de Montgrí and L’Estartit fulfilled the expectations of its organizers. The four days of meetings attracted over 5000 Comic fans and curious onlookers.

The foundation Caixa Girona began the creation of a park for sculptures in the botanical garden Jardins de Cap Roig in Calella de Palafrugell.  Initially eleven renowned artists who make large-scale sculptures will be exhibited: Néstor Basterretxea, Miguel Berrocal, Xavier Corberó, Amadeo Gabino, Marcel Martí, Santi Moix, Jorge Oteiza, Jaume Plensa, Riera i Aragó, Paul Suter and Francesc Torres Monsó. The Caixa Girona plans to spend annually between 500 and 600 thousand euro on new advertisements and sees its initiative as a contribution for the promotion of cultural tourism. The Jardins de Cap Roig covers seventeen hectares and has been a successful attraction for many years, not least because of the music festival each summer. The current admission fee for the Jardins de Cap Roig of four euro has not been increased.

Jardins de Cap Roig

In the province Girona there are now 56,123 working foreigners under social security.  This is 10.99% more than last year. 15.879 (28.3%) comes from states of the European Union. The largest contingents are Moroccans, Ecuadorians and Columbians. The strongest growth rates, however, are from the new European Union member states.

According to the development plan (POUM) Palafrugell plans to double in the next ten to fifteen years its population to 40,000. The environmental protection union Salvem el Crit Arítjol calls these plans completely out of order.  The plans, they say, are one-sided, based on building speculation, and do not represent the general interest or well-being of the citizens.

The animal protection union ADDA criticizes Lloret de Mar for more or less released sea gulls for hunting. According to the data of the city hall there are between 5 and 6000 sea gulls and these birds cause many kinds of problems.  There does not seem to be a better solution to reduce the population.

By means of a new system the public parks of Lloret de Mar are receiving recycled water from the purification facility to water the plants.  To date the Jardins de Santa Clotilde is being supplied in such a way, but eventually the system will supply water for the entire city.

	On 13 August repeats itself for the 70th time the day of the first bombardment of Sant Feliu de Guíxols during the Spanish civil war. The local council member Jesús Fernández has asked the city hall to build a Monument and a commemorative plaque for the victims of bombardments.
Sant Feliu de Guíxols

The Diputació de Girona presents to the public a catalogue, in which the regional natural landscape zones of the province Girona are listed. The catalogue gives expression to the concern over the destruction of natural landscape resources of the Costa Brava.

The environmental protection organisation S.O.S. Empordanet starts a campaign for the sensitisation of the Catalan pupils to the issues of the environment and climatic change. The group will provide to schools in Catalonia the publication “Les virtuts en el nostre entorn” (the virtues of our environment).

The historical museum of Sant Feliu de Guíxols shows the exhibition el salvament marítim (the sea-rescue); audiovisual assistance help to explain the topic in historical and social terms. From Tuesday until Saturday 10,00 h to 13,00 h and from 16.00 h to 19,00 h, on Sunday and holidays from 16.00 h to 19,00 h

Plaça the Espanya of Tossa de Mar now has a new lighting, as well as new sidewalks. During the holidays the central area was so accessible that the adjacent shops suffered hardly losses. Since the work will again continued after the holidays, the business owners fear losses. According to their opinion the time, i.e. the beginning of the touristic season, is never the time to start major renovation work.

Jordi Cruz, representative of the environmental protection organization Salvem el Crit Aritjol, met with his colleagues of Greenpeace on the Rainbow Warrior in the port of Palamós to exchange ideas. Cruz regretted particularly the constantly growing number of sport boats and the lack of controls along the coast. Members of Greenpeace agreed to support the project of a maritime protected zone around the islands “Islas Formigues”. The project had been proposed by the fishery cooperative of Palamós and the University of Girona.

Rainbow Warrior

On 30 July the Museu d'Història de la Joguina (Rambla Vidal, 48-50) of Sant Feliu de Guíxols inaugurates the exhibition “Queralt.”  The paintings can be visited until 19 August; entrance is free.

From 31 July to 29 August the city hall of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, on its patio, will show works by local artists. During this period the works will be auctioned, with the proceeds going to the Alzheimer society EMAD.

On 26 July Joan Baez will star at the festival Jardins de Cap Roig in Calella de Palafrugell, but, of course the concert is already sold out. So, too, is the concert of Liza Minelli on 10 August.

The mayoress of Girona, Anna Pagans, called this year’s festival of the religious music (festival de Músicas Religiosas y del Mundo) a big success. 7,366 tickets were sold, 2000 more than last year. The festival had broadened its scope to include non-religious “world” music.  Other related events such as the Mercat de Cuines del Món (market of the kitchens of the world) contributed to the success of the festival.

Citizens of Platja d'Aro take a stand against noise disturbance by nightclubs. First the inhabitants of the building Església 200 made forceful complaints to the city hall.  They say that the city hall is aware of the situation, but had decided to ignore the problem.

The environmental protection organisations Salvem el Crit and Arítjol, both from Palafrugell, decided, in the future to work together for the protection of the environment. Arítjol has existed since 1996, and Salvem el Crit since 1997.

The beginning of the building of a covered swimming pool in Lloret de Mar, planned for the summer, will be behind schedule while discrepancies between the city hall and the past owner of the building ground are being settled. The swimming pool is to be developed on the area of the Finca Can Pujades.

In Sant Feliu de Guíxols a 27-year-old Romanian was arrested after trying to buy cameras with a falsified credit card. The photo dealer checked the card and alarmed the police. The police found an additional nine falsified credit cards and a falsified Spanish residence permit.

The city hall of Torroella de Montgrí will invest during the next five years 574,500 euro for the maintenance of the beaches of L’Estartit and Mas Pinell. With this sum equipment will be financed for assistance during maritime accidents.

Lloret de Mar requests from the Diputació de Girona a subsidy of 60,000 euro for the continuation of the renovation of the masia de Can Xardó in the avinguda Vila de Tossa.

The fair antique Empordà in La Bisbal attracted 12.000 visitors, 3000 less than on its last event two years ago.

The announcements of the Ryanair flights from or to Girona are now also in Catalan.

Since 4 April a four-times-per-week Ryanair flight will connect Girona with Bremen, Germany. The first flights were 75% full.

The television station Televisió de Catalunya will install a weather camera on the roof of the fishery museum of Palamós.  The camera will be operational this summer.

The city hall of Palamós published a brochure with advice on how to dissuade sea gulls from breeding under house roofs.

As time passes… The Girona airport is now forty years old.   For most of that time it was only a sleepy provincial airport.  The enterprise only took off when the low-cost airlines decided to make it a hub.  The Sunday before Easter gave us a taste on the high season: 48 flights with over 12,000 passengers used the airport.

	With the appearance of the cruise ship Adriana (1972, 4,490 BRZ, 104 m x 14 m, 15 knots, 115 crew members. 5 Passage docks for 280 passengers with 131 cabs) Palamós began the 2007 cruise season. This year the port of Palamós will receive 32 ships with a total of 22.300 passengers.
Adriana

On the Easter Sunday morning Sardana concerts will take place in most every place.  One example will be in L'Estartit with the Cobla Principal de Banyoles at 12 o'clock on the Plaça de l'Església.

	To use the parking lot at the beach of Tossa de Mar can become very expensive.  If you park all day the fee will be 24 euro.  But, the first hour is free.
Tossa de Mar

Coloma Medinyà, Bienvenida Balmaña and Miquel Carmona from Sant Feliu de Guíxols were honoured because of their one-hundredth birthday.  The federal state government presented each with a medal.

Also Palamós is beating the advertising drum. The city participated in Miami (USA) in the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention in order to recommend their harbour as a stop for cruise ships.

The Carrer Emili Joan in Palamós, one of the most deeply sited streets of the city, had been afflicted by many many floods. Now the street is fully modernised, with new street lighting, wider pavements and additional technical means to henceforth avoid floods.  The work took will take over three months and cost 210.000 euros

With an average pension of 668,7 euros the province Girona lies easily under the major key cut of Catalonia (690,40).

The tour operators recommend that Costa Brava add new golf courses to remain internationally competitive. Eleven golf courses are not enough - especially in the north where there are too few.  They argue for nine more golf courses to permanently satisfy the demand. The other criticism of the tour operators is the relatively high prices for a round of golf and the difficult accommodation of the guests.

golf course in Pals

For the first time in 15 years a Boeing 747- 300 (Jumbo jet) landed at the airport Girona. The airplane carried 543 passengers and came from Iceland. The guests, employees of the multinational company group Eimskip, stayed over the weekend and came explicitly to play golf.

In spite of beautiful weather the numbers of the overnight stay fell in the province Girona in February by around 6% when compared to the previous year.

Carles Arnau (CiU), mayor of Begur, considers the thought of equipping the urbanisation of his town with supervision cameras. At this time this is only an idea, there are no plans to install the cameras.  If the plan gains traction the next question will be financing. A possibility would be that the municipality pays for the cameras at the local town entrance and that the owners join in the urbanisation to pay for the other cameras.

Begur

The Plaça d'Europa in Castell-Platja d'Aro was scene for an intercultural public feast. About 800 persons of different nations participated, 60 cooks offered more than 100 different dishes from all over the world.

L'Estartit announced the data for the festival MIMA (Medes, Imatge i Medi Ambient): From the 5 until 10 June.

The Plaça d´Espanya sited in the centre of Tossa de Mar gets a new paving. Some shop owners find the idea a good one, but the timeing of the project to be bad.  They feel that the work will harm their Easter business.

The new Web of Palafrugell (http://www.visitpalafrugell.cat/) describes their tourism functions.  The English version is not of the highest quality.  Nonetheless the Web is quite well done, visually pleasing, ands contains contents that are informative.

The gardens Jardins de Santa Clotilde in Lloret de Mar have new opening times, daily from 10 to 13 and from 16 to 22 o'clock. The last admission is around 12 hrs 15 and 19 hrs 15.

Parents of children between two and four years presented a petition with 1,261 signatures to the city hall in Palamós, which criticises the security conditions of the children's playgrounds.  The city hall reacted promptly and promised to improve and update the playgrounds by April.

Palafrugell has been running a new Web site since 15 March, which empathises the touristic aspects of the place.  However at URL http://www.visitpalafrugell.cat/ we were unable to view the page.  Probably still some technical difficulties. Meanwhile most places of the coast maintain their own Website. Some are quite useful and many are offered in the common tourist foreign languages  The translations are imperfect, but one can usually understand their intent.  Other sites demonstrate the difficulties caused by having the city hall try to operate the “new” medium.  If you are interested in a particular place you can try to access the location name, plus either .org or, cat.

Pensioners from Lloret de Mar may use the motorbus for the hospital of Blanes free of charge if their illnesses cannot be treated in the CAP in Lloret.

The Pavelló Firal of La Bisbal will be from 5 until 9 April the scene the for the antique fair VI Fira Antic Empordà. The restaurant of the hall will create a special menu during these days, the menúl’antiquari.

On 27 March Sant Feliu de Guíxols will open two new exhibitions:  Paintings of Quim Díaz, in the Patio of the city hall (until 15 April).  The Vernissage will be on 31 March at 19 o'clock. The other exhibition is a ceramic exhibition “Quimeta”, in the Museu d'Història de la Joguina (Rambla Vidal, 48-50). Also, until 15 April. Entrance is free for both exhibitions.

The police Mossos d'Esquadra arrested a gang consisting of seven Moroccans and a Spaniard in La Bisbal. They are suspected of having kidnapped the four years old son of the owner of the inmobiliariaMarquès in Begur on 8 December 2006.

In Girona there is a new official city plan. It can be downloaded on the Website of the city hall (www.ajuntament.gi) in pdf format (3.8 mega).

The Jardins de Santa Clotilde in Lloret de Mar in March, April and May on last Sunday at 12 o'clock is the scene for jazz concerts within the framework of the program Circuit Ressons de Jazz.

The Institut de Promoció Econòmica in Palafrugell (IPEP) and the bank La Caixa signed an agreement for the establishment of a system of small loans. These are for persons, which (or only partly) do not fit the requirements of the traditional credit system. The maximum credit amounts to 15.000 euro; the repayment is effected within four years. Business ideas with an innovative character are preferred for the granting of credit.

The mayor of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Miquel Lobato (CiU), insured that the planned museum of the modern art Museu Thyssen can be finished within the next two years, if the federal state government undertakes the necessary steps.

The citizens of Garrotxa comarca see the location of the planned TAV station west of Figueres in Vilafant with well-meaning eyes.  By the autovia A-26 the TAV station can be reached by car in scarcely 20 minutes from Besalú.

Ryanair will fly to the Dutch city Maastricht from Girona starting in June.

The city hall of Tossa de Mar discharged a Mapa Acústic in its last plenary assembly. This is for reducing noise disturbance in Tossa.

The small Island group Formigues lies about 900 metres off the coast, and for quite some time both Palamós and Palafrugell have called themselves owner. Now the Diari Oficial de la Generalitat (public newspaper of the federal state government) published in the context of the definition of the municipality borders between Palamós y Mont-ras that the Formigues belongs to Palamós. At the protest of Palafrugell it came to light that the verdict is not legally effective and everyone can make objections against it.

Formigues

Impressum: Ernst Witzel, Paul A. Hoffstein, Manuel Fernández Vila, Christel Arnold, Geraldine Steffler, . Article contributions, even when being seriously serious please to red@cbrava.com     CapCreus online, every day a little more.