The Catalan coastal town of Platja d'Aro has banned the use of costumes, blow-up dolls and other items of a "sexual nature" at bachelor parties.  The town of Costa Brava attracts a large number of tourists, many of whom choose it for their bachelor and bachelorette parties. Mayor Maurici Jiménez explained that the new rules of civility and coexistence address behaviors that have been identified as causing problems.  Bachelor parties sometimes "exceed" acceptable norms, the mayor said, and the new law aims to address that.  Local police chief David Puertas cited a recent bachelor party incident in which the groom was tied to a lamppost in the middle of the street with loud music playing, disturbing neighbors.  Get the day's biggest stories right to your phone MICFootball will be played on 56 fields in 40 towns on the Costa Brava. These are record numbers for an edition, that of 2024, which will break all records, exceeding 400 teams for the first time. Figueres will once again host the opening and some of the finals on Saturday while the outcome of the rest of the categories will take place in Palamós during the weekend Banyoles will be the municipality in charge of hosting the Pre-MICFootball matches for another year an event that will once again serve to warm up the engines of faces at the MIC Maçanet de la Selva and Vilamalla) are added to the towns that repeat the experience lived in previous years: Bàscara Some of the municipalities have increased the number of fields that will host MICFootball matches in 2024 Marca de l’Ham and Albert Gurt stadiums; The matches in Girona will be on the fields of Gironès – Sàbat Fontajau (home of the women’s category) and Torres de Palau; The Palafrugell duels will be at the Josep Pla i Arbonès municipal stadium and at the Gregal; The action in Roses will take place in Mas Oliva and La Vinyasa; while Salt distributes its matches between the Penya Bons Aires and Comacros fields Copyright © 2025 MICFOOTBALL | Aviso legal y Política de privacidad Do you have some question? We are here to help you! Sorry, this product is unavailable. Please choose a different combination. Evacuated residents return home as firefighters benefit from better weather conditions to tackle blaze at night ACN | Castell d'Aro The wildfire that broke out early Friday afternoon in Castell d'Aro, one of the Costa Brava's most famous tourist hotspots on the northern Catalan coast, was stabilized on Saturday morning. The flames affected 70 hectares of vegetation, according to the rural officers. Hundreds of people had been evacuated since the blaze broke out near residential areas, but they were allowed to return home during the night and early morning on Saturday. Those staying at Club Golf Masnou, and La Coma, Les Teules, Can Batet, Can Riera, and Vallvanera residential areas can now access their homes after firefighters benefited from better weather conditions to tackle blaze at night. Humidity increased and wind from sea stopped, which helped professionals stabilize both right and left flanks. On Saturday morning, the firefighters still had around 30 water trucks reviewing the fire perimeter. According to the Catalan rural officers, forest cleanup works may have caused the incident. The coastal resort towns of Platja d'Aro and S'Agaró - which make up the Castell d'Aro municipality - and Sant Feliu de Guíxols are some 10 kilometers south of Sant Antoni de Calonge and Palamós. Both Castell d'Aro and the neighboring Santa Cristina d'Aro activated their local emergency protocols for wildfires on Friday. v1.1.0. Copyright © 2025. Powered by EBANTIC. All rights reserved. Holidaymakers can breathe a sigh of relief: shortly after making masks obligatory on the beach, Spain now says they won’t be necessary while sunbathing or swimming if social distancing is respected. The law, which came into force last week, sparked a huge backlash in Spain which is heavily dependent on tourism, particularly in coastal areas which are gearing up for summer and lobbying hard for the introduction of vaccination passports.  But following talks late Wednesday, government health officials and those from Spain’s 17 regions agreed to modify the law, meaning people can now remove masks on the beach if they remain in one place, “respecting the minimum 1.5-metre security distance from people they don’t live with,” a health ministry statement said.  But if they walk along the beach, they must put them back on, it said.  It also clarified other activities when masks can be removed, including while swimming in the sea, in lakes, reservoirs or rivers as well as both indoor and outdoor swimming pools.  Masks can also be removed for “strictly necessary” moments of eating or drinking in public.  Masks first became obligatory on public transport in early May 2020 in a bid to reduce COVID-19 infections, and within weeks were made compulsory in the street for anyone aged six and above. Anyone violating the rules faces a fine. Spain has so far lost over 76,000 lives to the virus and counted more than 3.3 million cases.  To view comments, please register for free or log in to your account. Town council of Platja d’Aro confirm they will reinstall the structure ín green area Parc dels Estanys A group of young people have toppled the metal monolith that mysteriously appeared on Tuesday on the Sa Conca beach in Catalonia’s Costa Brava.  Some locals contacted the police at 7am on Thursday morning as they saw people dismantling it, pulling it out from its base rooted in the sand. The 3-meter tall structure had previously been protected by cords to prevent it from being touched after a lot of people started to approach it.  Thanks to details given by a fisherman, the police were able to find the young people in the area. However, the outcome and criminality of all this is unclear, since the structure has no owner.  The Castell i Platja d’Aro town council has decided to place it in the park Parc dels Estanys, where other similar works of art are on display. Mysterious monoliths have popped up all over the world after one was first discovered in the Utah desert in November 2020. The one on the Sa Conca beach in S’Agaró stands at 3 meters tall and has a triangular prism shape, like the others. It is not known who put it there, nor its reason for being there. Similar structures have also been spotted in the UK, Romania, the Netherlands, Poland and all over the world, many of these being constructed by local artists to imitate the Utah version while others fiercely retain their mystery. The Cala Belladona cove in the Costa Brava towns of Calonge i Sant Antoni and Platja d'Aro is now a dog-friendly beach, as announced by officials from both towns on Monday. Officials will even open a small bar with services especially for pets. Many pet owners, both locals and tourists, have been requesting the councils to open a dog-friendly beach in the area as until now they had to go to different towns for dogs to enjoy a swim. "We are now a fully pet-friendly municipality," Jenny Xufré, Platja d'Aro's councilor for tourism, declared. "I believe that pet owners consider their pets as another member of the family, and they also like to go on vacation [with their dogs], travel, go to restaurants and [for the animal to be] served water, even go to the beach, and our goal was to be able to offer these services," Xufré added. "It was a need that many private operators and tourists had asked for," Calonge mayor Arturo Prades told journalists on the beach. The new beach will be open all year and has 2,500 square meters for dogs to enjoy and play in this space located less than a 10-minute drive from each municipality. Those willing to walk to the destination can access the beach using the Camí de Ronda hiking trail and also from the Via Verda path starting on the C-253 road. Until now, there were just a few dog-friendly beaches in the Baix Empordà county including Platja dels Griells beach in l'Estartit, Cala del Niu cove in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, and Platja Pere Grau beach in Palamós. Castell d'Aro and Santa Cristina d'Aro activate emergency response as over 60 firefighter crews work on site ACN | Barcelona This article is outdated. Check the latest updates of this story here Firefighters are working to put out a wildfire that broke out early Friday afternoon in Castell d'Aro one of the Costa Brava's most famous tourist hotspots on the northern Catalan coast 77 firefighter crews and 15 aerial units were working on the site at 5pm while civil protection authorities have evacuated at least 15 residents in the nearby Les Teules area Residential area of Can Manel, Hotel Mas Torrellas Vallvanera area and Golf Masnou were also evacuated and the evacuees have been moved to the municipal sports center facilities.  the firefighters said that the blaze has affected between 50 and 55 hectares and this could increase up to 100 in the best case scenario and up to 250 if the flames go beyond their estimations.  They also said that "if things go well," the wildfire may be already stabilized on Friday evening.  forest cleanup works may have caused the incident The coastal resort towns of Platja d'Aro and S'Agaró - which make up the Castell d'Aro municipality - and Sant Feliu de Guíxols are some 10 kilometers south of Sant Antoni de Calonge and Palamós Both Castell d'Aro and the neighboring Santa Cristina d'Aro have activated their local emergency protocols for wildfires Weather conditions are favorable to put it out, as reported by the local radio broadcaster Ràdio Capital de l'Empordà. The media outlet also confirmed that humidity is at around 40% and 60% and wind from the sea helps keep the temperature low, although there are gusts of wind of up to 40 kilometers per hour. Firefighters added that the area affected, in the Girona region, is in a "slightly" better situation regarding the ongoing drought in Catalonia. Yet, they called on the public to be cautious across the country since due to the lack of rain, "any wildfire rapidly expands soon after it has started."