Vallcarca is an abandoned coastal settlement in the

Garraf Massif The Garraf Massif ( ca, Massís del Garraf, ) is a mountain range of the Catalan Coastal Range, Catalonia, Spain. Its cliffs reach the Mediterranean waters. Its highest point on the coastal side is La Morella, 593 metres above sea level and furth ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is administered by the

Sitges Sitges (, , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Spain, renowned worldwide for its Film Festival, Carnival, and LGBT Culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is known for its beaches, nightspot ...

municipality. Although most of the area is surrounded by the Garraf Natural Park, a highly-polluting cement factory near the abandoned railroad station is still active exploiting the nearby quarries for cement production.

History

Vallcarca was originally settled by a small group of workers at the ''Fradera''

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

plant and nearby quarries. The seaport was built in 1913 to ship the plant's products. Merchant ships carried cement across the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

to the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

and other places in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

's Mediterranean coast. Some return trips brought coal from mines in Pola de Laviana, also owned by Fradera.

Susqueda Susqueda is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Selva in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the Guilleries Massif area, on the left bank of the Ter river in the north-west of the ''comarca''. The Susqueda reservoir is on the municipal territ ...

and Sau

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

s and some buildings in the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

were built using Vallcarca's cement. In 1937, during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, aircraft belonging to the Francoist expeditionary air forces bombed Vallcarca. At that time it was an important military target owing to the cement plant and its harbor which connected the town with

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

. The town housed workers in the Vallcarca industrial and port facilities, as well as from the Renfe train station which was the only means of transport for the workers and their families. There was a problem with the cement related pollution which covered the whole area in thick white dust. The cement company imported machinery from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to remove the dust from the air, but the machinery soon broke down. Subsequently, in the second half of the 20th century, many of the younger inhabitants of the town refused to work in the near-slavery conditions of Vallcarca and looked for work in nearby Sitges and beyond. Today the ''Uniland'' company administers Vallcarca port. The train station was closed in 1994 and the old workers' houses are abandoned. Vallcarca port was particularly active during the expansion of the Barcelona harbor. Twelve million tons of rock from the Garraf Massif were used for the project.Transportaran per mar les pedres que s'extreuen del Garraf per ampliar el port de Barcelona
/ref> Some people visit Vallcarca during the summer, as its beach is still in a pristine state, but the leftover dust from the quarries during windy days can be unpleasant. The port is used exclusively for industrial purposes, as all the workers come from Sitges or elsewhere.

References

External links

Ajuntament de SitgesWikiloc - Garraf - Sitges (via Vallcarca)

{{Coord, 41, 14, N, 1, 52, E, display=title, region:ES_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Former populated places in Spain