15 July 2010

More Sitges Images

As mentioned in my previous post, Sitges is a seaside town, and a short train ride from Barcelona's Estació de Sants (a.k.a. Barcelona Sants).

It's very pretty with a great beach, and lots of restaurants and bars in the narrow lanes and along the waterfront.

If you do catch the train, make sure that you know when the last one back to Barcelona departs from Sitges, which is usually about 10:26pm.

There is a night bus which leaves Sitges to Barcelona from in front of the Oasis building by the railway bridge - look for the Mon.bus sign.  It's the N31 bus, and leaves at 01:36, 02:36, 03:36 and 05:16 - more details on this Mon.bus itinerary.

Plants are popular on the many balconies

One of the narrow lanes leading to the beach

A beachside bar

Beachfront apartments

Apartment building vestibule

Hanging vines and lace curtains

Parrots Bar - awesome cocktails and a great place to watch the Eurovision Song Contest!

The sea rolls in

Fincas available

The side of the church



13 July 2010

South to Sitges

Not far south of Barcelona lies the beach-side hamlet of Sitges, better known for its gay bars and restaurants, but also catering to families and anyone wanting to visit or stay in a beautiful part of Catalonia.

We've ventured there on several occasions, the first being in January last year when we were investigating where to live.  It was cold, windy and most of the town was closed.

Since then, we've experienced Sitges in warmer times, and have seen how the place becomes a popular location: the drawcards being the restaurants and the amazing beach which stretches for a few kilometers.

For photography, the narrow streets and lanes are ideal for finding lots of interesting subjects to capture. I'll let the photos take up the rest of the post.  There'll be another Sitges post with more images later in the week.

 The main door to the cathedral

8:45pm

Just sitting with my dog

A wonderful wooden door

Hotel Platjador

Hotel Romantic

An awesome sand sculpture

The red bag

Tattoos and piercings

Turret

Potted balcony




9 July 2010

Too hot to work - seriously?

An article on the news website The Barcelona Reporter made me chuckle today.

The staff at the Manresa Post Office have elected to stop working whenever the temperature inside their building rises above 26°C, because "it violates the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks."

Apparently the post office has no ventilation system, and the overheating problem was first raised in 2004.  Airconditioning was promised in a recent refurbishment completed last year, but there has been no improvement to the situation.

Stopping work is the staff's form of protest, in the hopes that something will be done.

What made me chuckle, with a decent amount of irony, was that in the U.A.E., outside workers are expected to work in temperatures exceeding 40°C - every day during Summer.  For them, there are few health and safety laws, and only in recent years was a ruling passed which requires companies to stop work for the 3 hours during the hottest part of the day, so that their employees can rest "in the shade".

Makes me wonder how the Manresa post office workers would fare in those climes!