Portbou / Municipality
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contact
Adre.:     Passeig de la Sardana,11 17497 PORTBOU Tel.:   34-972 39 02 84 Fax.:   34-972 12 51 23 Email:   portbou@ddgi.es Web:   http://www.portbou.org/

description
A town in the Alt Empordà region, on the coast, which lies adjacent to the Vallespir. It is a rugged area as the southwestern part of the Albera range terminates here and the relief culminates in the plain of Ras.

	The people live basically from the railway station. The international railway station of this border town, created during the second half of the 19th century, and which was a simple nucleus of fishermen’s shacks, began to bring inhabitants and prestige. The golden age of Portbou was before and, especially, after the Civil War and up to the decade of the 1970s.
	Portbou still has a charm which captivates the restless tourist. The beach and its coves, the Rambla and the streets surrounding it, the municipal cemetery and the monument which commemorates the death of the philosopher Walter Benjamin, the old customs zone, the railway complex, the parish church, the new marina… are some of the spots which seduce the visitor.
	The parish church of Santa María de Portbou is located near to the railway station. Its construction began in 1878, commissioned by the railway company. Both inside and outside its presents various details of the neoclassical style which give it certain personality.

other
The sculptor, of Jewish origin, Dani Karavan, made the sculpture Memorial Passage, situated next to the municipal cemetery, in rememberance of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin who died in the border town in 1940.

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