Park, El Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park, El Garraf Park, Olèrdola Park, El Foix Park. Foix El Park, Olèrdola Park, Garraf El Park, Agrarian Llobregat Baix El Park, Corredor Park, Serralada Litoral Park, Serralada de Marina Park, Collserola Collserola Park, Marina de Serralada Park, Litoral Serralada Park, Corredor quality at destination). at quality Natural Park, Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac Natural Park, El Montnegre i el el i Montnegre El Park, Natural l’Obac i Munt del Llorenç Sant Park, Natural Naturalle della Maremma in Tuscany, Italy. Tuscany, in Maremma della Naturalle Castell de Montesquiu Park, Les Guilleries-Savassona Natural Area, El Montseny Montseny El Area, Natural Guilleries-Savassona Les Park, Montesquiu de Castell system of Spanish tourism tourism Spanish of system Natural Park Network Park Natural certification (integrated (integrated certification Since 2002, El Garraf Park has been twinned with the Parco Parco the with twinned been has Park Garraf El 2002, Since have been awarded SIQTED SIQTED awarded been have Direcció de Comunicació. Cover photo: Iñaki Relanzón. DL: Direcció El Garraf and Olèrdola parks parks Olèrdola and Garraf El has the participation of different sectors involved. sectors different of participation the has www.diba.cat/parcsn tected areas with the eleven municipal areas they cover and and cover they areas municipal eleven the with areas tected 101,576 hectares of protected natural areas natural protected of hectares 101,576 - pro two these manages jointly Council Provincial Barcelona Natural Park Network Park Natural TARRAGONA PROVÍNCIA DE Park. Foix El neighbouring the to to join each other and at the same time were also connected connected also were time same the at and other each join to (El Garraf) and in 1992 (Olèrdola). Both parks were extended extended were parks Both (Olèrdola). 1992 in and Garraf) (El definitively approved by the Government of Catalonia in 1986 1986 in Catalonia of Government the by approved definitively plans sponsored by Barcelona Provincial Council. They were were They Council. Provincial Barcelona by sponsored plans These two areas are legally protected by special protection protection special by protected legally are areas two These the distinctive rocky central platform of Olèrdola. of platform central rocky distinctive the Rascler (572 m), in El Garraf, and Puig de l’Àliga (465 m), on on m), (465 l’Àliga de Puig and Garraf, El in m), (572 Rascler vineyards. The highest peaks are La Morella (594 m) and El El and m) (594 Morella La are peaks highest The vineyards. PROVÍNCIA DE BARCELONA DE PROVÍNCIA park while the plain surrounding Olèrdola is covered with with covered is Olèrdola surrounding plain the while park a small reddish sandstone strip at the eastern end of the the of end eastern the at strip sandstone reddish small a of cavities, dolines and sinkholes. El Garraf nevertheless has has nevertheless Garraf El sinkholes. and dolines cavities, of DE LLEIDA DE PROVÍNCIA PROVÍNCIA scape, characterised by calcareous rock with a large number number large a with rock calcareous by characterised scape, DE GIRONA DE - land rugged and rocky a of up made are parks two The PROVÍNCIA PROVÍNCIA (El Garraf covers 12,376 ha and Olèrdola 608 ha). ha). 608 Olèrdola and ha 12,376 covers Garraf (El Penedès depression. Together they cover 12,984 hectares hectares 12,984 cover they Together depression. Penedès I t encourages the public use of natural heritage. natural of use public the encourages t ley of the River Llobregat, the Mediterranean Sea and the the and Sea Mediterranean the Llobregat, River the of ley the area. the tion of the parks and the economic development of of development economic the and parks the of tion - val lower the are boundaries Its Garraf. El and Penedès L’Alt I - preserva the between balance a towards works t Range, which extends over the regions of El Baix Llobregat, Llobregat, Baix El of regions the over extends which Range, and landscape values of each park. each of values landscape and of what is known as the Catalan Serralada Litoral Mountain Mountain Litoral Serralada Catalan the as known is what of I t protects the natural, agricultural, forestry, cultural cultural forestry, agricultural, natural, the protects t El Garraf Park and Olèrdola Park form the southwest spur spur southwest the form Park Olèrdola and Park Garraf El of all of the stakeholders. stakeholders. the of all of through special plans drawn up with the participation participation the with up drawn plans special through English El Garraf Park and Olèrdola Park Olèrdola and Park Garraf El I t plans and manages natural and agricultural areas areas agricultural and natural manages and plans t KIM CASTELLS lation of Catalonia lives. lives. Catalonia of lation - popu the of 70% which in territory the of 22% sents I - repre which hectares, 101,576 of area an covers t www.diba.cat/parcsn cal area. cal [email protected] [email protected] dola d’Olèr c Par i - geographi its within towns 100 the of balance mental Fax 934 022 439 022 934 Fax Tel. 934 022 400 022 934 Tel. T - environ and territorial the guarantees Network he c del Garraf del c Par a Barcelon 08036 environmental and cultural value. cultural and environmental Edici del Rellotge, 3a planta 3a Rellotge, del Edici consists of 12 natural areas of significant landscape, landscape, significant of areas natural 12 of consists Comte d’Urgell, 187 d’Urgell, Comte B arcelona Provincial Council’s Natural Park Network Network Park Natural Council’s Provincial arcelona Xarxa de Parcs Naturals Parcs de Xarxa Natural Park Network Park Natural s Natural d’Espais ea Àr Vegetation examples of medie- BC. Since that time, there have been periods of occupation and aban- val hospital architec- donment and different civilisations have lived here. ture, and the remark- The emphatic dryness of the summer and low wa- From the 4th to 2nd century BC, the Iberian people known as the “Cos- able site of the palace ter retention capacity of calcareous soils determine setans” settled here and made use of the pre-existing wall. the vegetation growth. It is characterised by dense of Plana Novella, right scrub, around three metres in height, predominated in the heart of El Garraf. At the end of the 2nd century BC, the Romans made Olèrdola a military outpost. They erected a great wall and watchtower at the highest point by the Kermes oak and the mastic tree and where It was not until the 18th to watch over the territory and the Via Heraclea (later to become the Via the Mediterranean fan palm, rope grass and other century that the pop- Augusta). Today, great differences can be seen between the lower part species of African origin grow. ulation began to in- of the wall, with a height of 3 metres and built in the Roman period, and crease significantly. Further inland, the landscape is scattered with holm the medieval top section. The large cistern or central well is also from the This was accompanied oak and Aleppo pine woods, most of which have Roman period. Once the Iberians had been pacified, the Roman garrison by a great expansion in KONIC XPN been affected by forest fires and are now in the SHOOTING was no longer necessary and the site was abandoned. process of regeneration. vine and wheat grow- ing. The plague of phylloxera that began in the second half of the 19th A thousand years later, in the medieval period from the 9th century on- The physical environment In the valley bottoms or closed val- century put a definitive stop to extensive agricultural activity in El Garraf. wards, Olèrdola once again started to play a significant role in the control leys vegetation typical of evergreen Agriculture, however, continues in Olèrdola, where large vineyards and and repopulation of the regions of southern Catalonia. The first document The landscape in El Garraf and at Olèrdola has an arid appearance, low oak woodland grows: evergreen dry farm crops occupy some of the flat land of the valleys. in which the name of Olèrdola appears dates back to the year 950. A name relief and rounded summits. The valleys are deep and the slopes are oak, boxwood, madder, honey- that stands out from that period is that of Mir Geribert, prince of Olèrdola, El Garraf has seen the proliferation of a large number of activities (quar- scarped with greyish-white rocky walls. Nearly all parts of both massifs suckle and viburnum. who clashed with the count of Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer I (1040-1059). comprise calcareous rock, which, in contact with water and the air, has ries, shooting ranges, landfills, etc.), the great impact of which has been dissolved and formed what are known as karsts, i.e., caves, chasms, furthered by forest fires. In this period, Olèrdola dolines and sinkholes. The Eramprunyà area is very different and char- Human occupation marked the limit of Christian acterised by reddish sandstone conglomerates that give rise to a rather territory. There are few re- abrupt landscape. The coastal location means a typically Mediterranean Despite the appearance of soli- The monument site of Olèrdola mains of dwellings from the climate: scant but torrential rain and mild temperatures in the spring and tude and depopulation currently period but there are various autumn, temperate winters and hot, dry summers. The landscape of both given by the El Garraf and Olèrdo- The Olèrdola mountain is a natural boundary between the plain of the holes made in the rock and Olèrdola Park and El Garraf Park is distinctively Mediterranean and has la massifs, they have been subject Penedès and the coast and between the north and south of Catalonia.