What you can see on the Arenys de Mar webcam
The camera sits low on the beach right beside the harbour. The rock breakwater fills the left of the picture, with the entrance light at the end of the port beyond it; in front, the sea runs out to the horizon past a line of yellow swimming buoys, and on the right the sand of Picòrdia beach curves away south-west towards the green hills of the next towns. Small waves breaking on the shore, the colour of the water and the number of people on the sand are all easy to read.
Picòrdia beach in Arenys de Mar, live
Arenys de Mar's sailing club runs this camera at the edge of Picòrdia beach, the town beach that starts right at the harbour wall. It sits low, close to the sand, and looks roughly south. The rock breakwater of the harbour curls round on the left, with the green light of the harbour entrance further out; straight ahead, the sea runs to the horizon past a line of yellow swimming buoys; and on the right the beach curves away south-west, with wooded hills and the next towns of the Maresme in the distance.
Being so low, it shows the waves as a swimmer meets them: you can see whether they are breaking on the shore and how far up the sand they run. In the afternoon the sun sits over the right of the picture and the sea glitters.
A fishing town with a poet's cemetery
Fishing is still the heart of Arenys: almost the whole fleet of the Maresme works from its harbour, and the catch is auctioned every afternoon when the boats come in. The sailing club, founded in 1952, is one of the oldest in Catalonia. Up on the hill of La Pietat, the white cemetery looking out to sea is the "Sinera" of Salvador Espriu, the Catalan poet who spent his childhood summers here and turned the town's name around for his verse; he is buried there.
When to watch Arenys de Mar
Arenys is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland. The camera looks roughly south, so the sun crosses its view from left to right: the light is soft in the morning and the sea glitters on the right in the afternoon. The water is warmest in August and coolest in late winter, and the biggest waves arrive with easterly storms in autumn.
Around Arenys de Mar
The Riera, the broad avenue built over the old stream bed, is the town's main street, with its covered market and a Saturday morning street market. North of the harbour stretches the longer Cavaió beach, and the hills of the Montnegre i el Corredor park rise a few miles inland.
Visiting Arenys de Mar
Rodalies line R1 runs along the shore from Barcelona and stops beside the beach; the journey from Plaça de Catalunya takes under an hour. Barcelona airport is about 35 miles (56 km) away and Girona–Costa Brava airport about 25 miles (40 km). Picòrdia is about 580 metres (635 yards) long, and Cavaió about a kilometre.
