What you can see on the Blanes webcam
The camera stands in the marina of the sailing club and looks south-west across the harbour. In the foreground are the masts and decks of the moored yachts and the quay; beyond them, the harbour wall and the open sea. At the right-hand end of the view rises Sa Palomera itself, with the seafront buildings of S'Abanell beach stretching away behind it. It is a good camera for checking the sea outside the harbour, and the 24-hour time-lapse shows the light moving across the bay from dawn to dusk.
Blanes harbour and Sa Palomera
This camera at the Club de Vela Blanes, the town's sailing club, looks south-west across the harbour. In the foreground are the masts and decks of the moored yachts and the wide quay; beyond the inner basin runs the breakwater, and past it the open sea. At the right-hand end of the view, Sa Palomera rises from the shore, with the seafront blocks of S'Abanell beach stretching away behind it.
Each image carries its date and time in the corner. It is a good camera for checking the sea outside the harbour wall before a trip on the water, and for seeing the light change over Sa Palomera.
Sa Palomera and the fireworks
Sa Palomera is more than a landmark. Every July, during the town's main festival around the feast of Santa Anna, Blanes holds an international fireworks competition, and the displays are launched from the rock, as they have been since 1958. Hundreds of thousands of people watch from the beach over several nights, usually in the last full week of July. The town has another, less happy date in local memory: on Boxing Day 2008 a storm overwhelmed the old sea wall of the harbour and threw boats up onto the beach.
When to watch Blanes
Blanes is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland, all year round. The town faces south, so its beaches get the sun from morning to evening, and the view across the harbour is best in the morning, with the light behind the camera's shoulder rather than in its eyes. In winter the quays are quiet and the air is often at its clearest; when the wind gets up, the white water shows at once beyond the harbour wall.
Around Blanes
Above the harbour, the Marimurtra botanical garden covers almost 15 hectares (37 acres) of cliff with more than 4,000 plant species, and there is a second garden, Pinya de Rosa, nearby. North of the town, small coves such as Cala Sant Francesc lead along the coast towards Lloret de Mar.
Visiting Blanes
Blanes is about 45 miles (73 km) from Barcelona airport as the crow flies and 16 miles (25 km) from Girona airport, and it has a railway station with trains from Barcelona along the coast.
