Editing Perpignan (section)

==<FONT COLOR="#CC0000">'''HISTORY OF PERPIGNAN'''</FONT>==
[[File:Photojournalism festival.JPG|thumb|250px|right|The International Photojournalism Festival « Visa pour l’image »]]

===<FONT COLOR="#CCCC00">'''Identity'''</FONT>===
« Perpignan la Catalane » or « Fidelissima Vila de Perpinyà », here is the way the city is officially introduced. These phrases refer to '''history, identity, heritage''', but they also express '''a geographical and cultural reality, the richness and specificity of the city'''. “La Catalane” because Perpignan, capital of North Catalonia, has been part of the Catalan Principality for five centuries (from end of 12th to middle 17th), then '''linked to the Aragon Kingdom, after Roman and Mediterranean cultures'''. Capital City of the Kingdom of Majorca (1276/1344), the city became partly integrated to the Kingdom of France in the XVth century. Perpignan is '''officially French since 1659'''. Add to this its attachment to some values. 

[[File:Vauban Mole.JPG|thumb|250px|left|The Vauban Mole, Downtown Mediterranean Mood]]

===<FONT COLOR="#CCCC00">'''Geographical Situation'''</FONT>===
Nevertheless, Perpignan offers many other faces. “Big little city” or “Little big city” is the core of an old province, the Roussillon, surrounded by a vast plain '''much privileged by its environment: a Mediterranean rocky and sandy coastline''' on the one hand, and on the other hand mountains, among which the Canigou - one of the highest peaks of the '''French Pyrenees''' (2785m), and a sacred mountain both to Southern and Northern Catalans. The Tramontane wind clears the sky into a deep blue with a very special light, which was '''a source of inspiration for “Fauvist art”''', Perpignan has '''2 500 sunny hours a year''' and is the last big city before the Spanish border, so as '''a city-bridge between Barcelona and the rest of France'''.

===<FONT COLOR="#CCCC00">'''Numerous Treasures'''</FONT>===
Perpignan lived its Golden Age during '''the Kingdom of Majorca''', which lasted from 1276 to 1344, a period '''when Perpignan was its capital city'''. While gothic churches and collegiate churches were built in the royal city, commercial and textile prosperity was to be exported into the whole Mediterranean basin. As a cosmopolitan capital, '''Perpignan hosted lots of artists'''. This blazing vision is enforced in '''different monuments''' such as the Campo Santo (referring to the same monument as Pisa, Italy)… and of course, the “Palais des Rois de Majorque”. There are '''several museums''' in the city and more in the surroundings: classic and modern art, traditions, history...

[[File:Thursday of Perpignan.JPG|thumb|250px|right|The « Thurdays of Perpignan », street arts Summer Festival]]

===<FONT COLOR="#CCCC00">'''Today'''</FONT>===
City of 120 000 dwellings ('''250 000 for the Great Perpignan'''), the city has a university (11 000 students) linked to '''renewable energies''', economic poles (Saint Charles, Tecnosud…), bars & nightclubs (especially on '''la colline des loisirs''' in Canet-en-Roussillon (10 kms/5'), close to the sea), '''several festivals''' : Visa pour l'Image (Photojournalism), Jazzèbre, Confrontation (cinema), Festival de Musique sacrée (Holy music), Ida y Vuelta (world music), Les Estivales (theatre, dance, music) and some others

In Perpignan, you can find '''any kind of cuisine'''. Nice small '''restaurants in the old town''' (french tradition, world - vietnamese, japanese, indian, italian, moroccan -, fast food, grande cuisine, catalan recipes (boles de picolat, pa amb tomàquet). Perpignan area produces also '''good wines, sweet wines''', fruits (cherry, peach, apricot), vegetables, and in some of the restaurants you will hear now & then some '''gipsy musicians''' playing serenade around.

If you like '''sports''', you will find everything in '''Parc des Sports''', close to the University Perpignan Via Domitia (tennis, soccer, baseball, ping pong, rugby, skateboard, a swimming pool). For '''sea emotions''' (Collioure, pearl of the Côte vermeille...), the very close coast offers windsurfing, skin diving, sailing, volley & beach volley-ball. From the ridge, the '''Neiges catalanes''' (olympic Font-Romeu...) are up there (skiing, snow-shoeing, clifthanger, 4x4 riding on the rocks or simply hiking).

More informations about the History of Perpignan on the [[wikipedia:Perpignan]] !