2º Symposium internacional de Kayak de mar: Lugar y entorno

The little coaster town of Llançà is situated at 15 Km from the French border and has two zones clearly differentiated: The town of Llançà and the seaport of Llançà. In the town, constructed around its main square, it is situated the historic centre. The seaport has developed along this century. The town and the seaport have around 4000 inhabitants together.

During holiday period this number of people grows considerably, especially between the 1 st to the 15 th of August. However we can describe Llancà as a rather quiet and reserved place.

There are several green areas and different kinds of beaches in Llançà: from the typical familiar beach of sand or grave to the smallest creeks where you can normally get on foot.

Llançà was officially mentioned as “Mansión Lancio” in the tenth century. But after the Spanish civil war the fishermen still lived in the town and only used the seaport for their job.

Year 974: First mention of Llançà in documents.
XVII century: Was visited frequently by pirates.
In 1691: The seaport chapel of “la Mare de Deu” was constructed.
In 1726: Was seen the last pirate ship in the bay of Llançà.
In 1759: The actual Pyrenees border was set up.
XVIII century: An economic raise in olive oil and wine production and exportation was produced. The first houses of the seaport of Llançà were constructed. Since the XX century around 200 people lived there.
XIX century: The filoxera destroyed the wine harvest and also the economy, since that moment flourishing.
In 1870: The freedom tree that actually is in the middle of the main square was planted.
In 1887: The first train arrives at Llançà.
Between 1909 and 1913: the roads to Colera and Vilajuïga were constructed.

El Port de la Selva

From all the towns of el Cap de Creus, el Port de la Selva is the most serious candidate to win the title of the “little town of fishermen”. The white houses are so close one to the other that they seem to be looking for protection against “la Tramuntana”, name of a famous wind of the zone.

Many of its inhabitants earn money with the tourism, but fishing still represents an important sector of the local economy. The fishing seaport is one of the most important of the province.

Port de la Selva bay's a natural seaport and it is relatively protected by the surround mountains from the north winds. The beach is big and offers enough places even in high season. This beach is especially popular between windsurfers. The beach of Cala Tamariu is situated relatively near the town centre and it is accessible by car. Another smaller creeks, to the Creus Cape, are nice to visit however it is necessary a walk on foot.

After the tourist rise of the sixties, a national tourism has settled here. Especially for the people from Barcelona this is a very popular place.

In 1725 the first church is constructed. In that period el Port de la Selva still belonged to the town of la Selva de Mar. Near the beach only existed some houses were the fishermen had their nets and other tools.

In 1787, el Port de la Selva gets the independency from la Selva de Mar by a decree of King Carlos III.

The economical raise will arrive in XIX century by the production of wine and olive oil. The numbers of inhabitants grow. At the end of the century the filoxera destroys most part of the vineyard. The number of inhabitants goes down again.

After de civil war, the 70% of the constructions of el Port de la Selva are destroyed.

In the sixties another economic raise is produced by the tourism. The number of inhabitants levels at around 800. New houses and apartments are constructed preserving the old centre of the town.