PUNTA DELS BURRICAIRES
CALELLA, FROM FISHING TO TOURISM

 

“Burricaires” was the name given to those people who would load the cork bark in their arms and get it ready to be transported. This place, with privileged views of the coast, was possibly the point where the workers waited for the boats, when Calella functioned as a port for coastal trade.

 

At this point, Calella’s traditional maritime features (the boathouses on the beach at Port Pelegrí and the fishermen’s nucleus to the east) coexist alongside the new, touristic Calella. The first houses for summer visitors were built at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century behind the Punta dels Burricaires, on the so-called “Barandilla”, and on Canyers beach, which the first occupants renamed Sant Roc.

 

To the west, the Banys d’en Caixa bathhouse, a covered grotto where people could go to bathe in hot water and the waves, stands out. The bathhouse was opened in 1899, when it was fashionable among the wealthy classes to take these baths, which were said to be therapeutic. But it was just a passing trend and in 1906, it closed its doors.