Empordà
The Empordà [ əmpurˈða ] (Spanish Ampurdán , German Ampurien ) is the fertile hinterland of the Costa Brava in the Catalan province of Girona in Spain . The historic county of Empordà was divided into two districts in 1936: Alt Empordà ("Upper Ampuria", main town Figueres ) and Baix Empordà (" Lower Ampuria", main town La Bisbal d'Empordà ). The name of the region is derived from the ancient Greek settlement Empúries ( Greek Ἐμπόριον Emporion , Latin Emporiae ) near the present-day city of Roses .
history
In the hinterland of the Costa Brava , in Roussillon (on the French side) and in Alt Empordà, there are 112 dolmens , 19 menhirs , 7 stone boxes with burial mounds, 378 rocks with engravings and 2 Neolithic villages. It is thanks to the relative isolation of the areas that are now declared as nature parks or archaeological parks ( Parc Megalític de Roses ) that many prehistoric buildings have been preserved here.
Wine culture
The Denominació d'Origen Empordà , with around 2300 hectares of vineyards on limestone soil, is the cradle of wine growing in Spain and borders on French Roussillon . The climate is Mediterranean, the cold north winds are dangerous for growth. The most important grape varieties are Chenin Blanc , Macabeo , Moscatel , Parellada , Riesling , Xarel lo, as well as Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer . Red varieties are Cariñena , Cabernet Sauvignon , Syrah and Tempranillo . The DO Empordà is an important rosado production area. The winemakers also traditionally produce the alcoholic rancios .
Art and music
The Empordà was often discussed in the fine arts and music: The Sardana L'Empordà describes the emergence of the very fertile, flat, coastal landscape of the Empordà as the result of the love between a siren from the Mediterranean and a shepherd from the Pyrenees who lived in the Winter leaves the inhospitable mountains with his herd to survive on the coastal plain. Here the shepherd falls into the love of a siren. The end of the song in Catalan is: … i de l'amor plantaren la cabanya, fou l'Empordà! (German: "... and out of this love they created their home. This is how Ampuria came about!") Both the lyricist Joan Maragall and the composer of this Sardana from 1908 Enric Morera enjoy the greatest appreciation in Catalonia for this "creation story" of the Empordà.
Web links
- Dolmens and menhirs in the Empordá on cbrava.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.wein-plus.eu/de/Ampurd%C3%A1n-Costa+Brava_3.0.4700.html
- ↑ Homepage of the Denominació d'Origen Empordà
Coordinates: 42 ° 4 ′ 54.9 " N , 3 ° 4 ′ 19.4" E