Catalan Bay

View of Catalan Bay in the morning looking North from the Caleta Palace Hotel.

Catalan Bay (Spanish: La Caleta) is a small bay and fishing village in Gibraltar, on the eastern side of The Rock away from the main city.

History

Historically, Catalan Bay had been populated by Genoese fishermen who were part of a much larger settlement pattern along the eastern coast of The Rock during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 18th century Genoese was so widely spoken in Gibraltar that government notices were also published in this language (alongside English and Spanish). Genoese was spoken in La Caleta well into the 19th century, dying out in the early decades of the twentieth. There has been some discussion that the British may have mixed up Catalans with Genoese but it is by no means clear why they would suffer such a confusion especially since there is other evidence which demonstrates that the British were perfectly aware that the residents of La Caleta were Genoese: the orders for the siege of 1727 refer to this bay as the Genoese Cove and the numerous 18th and 19th century census record large numbers of people born in Genoa, not in Catalonia.

During the nineteenth century only fishermen were permitted to live in Catalan Bay. They were required to have a fishing permit granted to them by the Governor and only a limited number of permits were issued. The families who live in the village today are mainly descendants of these Genoese fishermen, and are colloquially known as caleteños

Present

The beach at Catalan Bay, is the second biggest sandy beach in Gibraltar. It is very popular with both Gibraltarians and tourists, and can often become overcrowded during the summer months.

Catalan Bay is home to the Caleta Palace Hotel, a number of restaurants (specialising in fresh seafood) and the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows. The statue of Our Lady of Sorrows is carried to the beach each September when the Bishop of Gibraltar blesses the sea in what has become the village's main religious festival.

To the north lies Eastern Beach, Gibraltar's largest and most popular sandy beach. Beyond Catalan Bay to the south is the nearby beach of Sandy Bay, where from 2002 the coast road ended due to the closure of Dudley Ward Tunnel for safety reasons, only reopeing in late 2010.

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Write by: AN - Monday, October 20, 2014