Hi C.h.a.t.community!

My name is Quim, my handle on Steemit is @jduarte and I live in Sabadell ( Spain ). On steemit I write mostly about my travels and occasionally I also write about cryptocurrencies. In this sense, @chatcommunity (a new community on Steemit for people that are interested in Culture, History, Art, and Travel) is perfect for me.

My favourite hobby is travelling with my family, so my wife and my little daughter are usually the models of the photos. This is perfect because they are much prettier than me and I like to take pictures. A perfect combination!

Les Angles Park Animalier when we visited Les Angles Animal Park in France (photo by @jduarte)

I am very excited about the creation of this new community, as I think it can be very beneficial for all of us who write about our trips in steemit. Among other reasons I'm excited because I expect @chatcommunity to connect travellers all around the platform and the planet. A very ambitious goal, I know .. but if not, would not be so praiseworthy ;)

CHAT Discord Channel Invite


Currently we can vote and comment on posts that we like but interaction with the other users of the platform is limited. Hardly new friendships are maded and it is difficult to follow all the content that is created. I hope #chatcommunity can solve these problems or at least minimize them. While the pertinent improvements are made in this regard, it is necessary the existence of communities like the one that is being created by @ella-kay and the rest of us. I think next Steemit Hard Fork should split reward pool into differents topics or #'s and I believe that #chatcomunity will be a reference for people who seek to support other travelers.

Lake Geneva (Switzerland)
well, yes... I also appear in some pictures :) (photo by @jduarte)

Concrete examples of what can be done within a community would be the creation of posts that collect other post or post articles written cooperatively by different users.

Sabadell

Sabadell from my home (picture by @jduarte)

In this contest we are expected to write something unique about our hometown. I was born in Barcelona and it would have been very easy to write an attractive post about the city where I was born. But I will write about Sabadell, which is the city where I live.

Travel

Reasons why a member of the #chatcommunity should visit Sabadell:

1. It is very close to Barcelona and nevertheless staying here is much cheaper. Sabadell doesn't have famous tourist attracctions, but the modernisme movement also had an important influence in the architecture of the city in case this is what you're looking for in Barcelona.

2. The official diminutive of the city is SBD, like the Steem Dollars. That is why many small businesses use these acronyms in their name. A freak reason, but let's face : if you're reading this intead of being nosing around Facebook you are a bit freak as well.

3. You will have travel experiences with real locals. Because if someone visits only Barcelona, it could take the impression that we spend the day drinking beer or that we spent the day taking photos protecting ourselves from the sun under a nice hat... No my friend, the first will surely be German and the second Japanese ;)

Surrondings:

Sabadell has beautiful parks and nearby is the mountain of La Mola. If you dedicate the effort of climbing up to its peak, you will get some beautiful views of the famous Montserrat mountain range.

Montserrat views from La Mola after a Trekking day in family (picture by @jduarte)

"Les Moriscas" Park (picture by @jduarte)

Sabadell Central Park (picture by @jduarte)

Culture

Sabadell is one of the biggest cities of Catalonia with a population over 200.000 and is located only 20 km (12 mi) north of Barcelona. Sabadell is an important communications point, so you are interested in visiting Barcelona and staying in Sabadell, you can easily access the "Ciudad Condal" by 2 highways, by train and also by rail.

In my opinion a very smart option would be to visit Barcelona and surroundings for the day and have dinner in Sabadell before going to the hotel. Here you will find a large array of restaurant, from Asian (Japanese, Thai ...) to Mexican, including typical Spanish. So do not worry, you can also eat paella!

If you visit Sabadell during the first week of September, you can attend two unique cultural expressions:

1. Gegants i Capgrossos de Sabadell:

Gegants = Giants

The giants are hollow figures of several meters of height of human aspect. Usually they go disguised as kings and queens. Arms typically have no structural element to allow them to swing in the air when the giant dance.

Gegants i Capgrossos de Sabadell (picture by @jduarte)

Capgrossos = Bighead

Capgrossos are smaller figures that accompany the giants. They have human scale but an oversized head. They are really funny!

The young ones will hallucinate with Gegants & Capgrossos (picture by @jduarte)

During the city festivities Gegants i Capgrossos turn the center into a celebration of popular culture. Accompanied by music they walk and dance through the streets of the city. Kids will surely love it!

2. Castells:

Another unique spectacle you can enjoy in sabadell are the castellers:

Sorry, this picture is not mine : Image source

History

Sabadell pioneered the Industrial Revolution in Catalonia that why some mills still can we seen distributed apparently randomly by the city. In the mid-19th century Sabadell was the most important producer of woolen clothing in Spain and the clothes that were manufactured in their factories had worldwide fame.





Another historical point of Sabadell is Can Feu Castle dating from the High Middle Ages ( IX and X centuries)

Castle of Can Feu (picture by @jduarte)

Art

Sometimes we travel thousands of kilometers to end up standing in line to touch a fountain because someone happened to say that this would bring good luck when near our house there is surely a more beautiful fountain and just as worthy of being caressed. Thanks to the fact of writing this post I have been hanging around my city, in search of unique sites. I have to say that it has been a comforting experience.

If you rub the front of the head of this statue you will be lucky (picture by @jduarte)

In the center of Sabadell you will find Sant Felix Chuch this "small cathedral" is worth a visit. Its baroque bell tower has an eight-sided floor plan and consists of four different sections:

Sant Felix Chuch (picture by @jduarte)

Personally a differential fact that I love about Sabadell are the doors of the houses on the street. Some date from the 19th century and remind us that at that time the citizens of the big cities still had enough space, that's why they are so tall.

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Thank you for reading the post, I hope you enjoyed and decided to join @chatcommunity.

Ubicación en @steemitworldmap: