The archetype of the tourist who walks through Catalonia and, specifically, Barcelona, remains in the collective imagination as that group of young people who travel with low cost companies, do not contribute to local commerce, saturate La Rambla and Park Güell, and desperately seek a bar to drink cheap alcohol. However, a new model has been emerging in Catalonia for years as an antidote to mass tourism: silver tourism, that segment of the population over 55 or 60 years old, with purchasing power and consumption capacity.

One more summer, the Illa Roja beach in Begur will head the human chain to defend freedom and respect for nudists in this space. The most recent case for which this cove became known was the conflict that broke out in 2021 between naturists and the owners of a beach bar which, under pressure from naturist associations, had to close. This cove is a space that became a symbol of the nudist movement, and became a sanctuary for international naturism during the Transition, thanks to the drive of pioneers and groups like the Catalan Naturism Club. Although this practice has gone through rather low moments in recent years, and the average age is usually quite high, more and more young people are claiming it as a liberation from aesthetic pressure. 

Years ago, houses used to be the most common refuges to protect oneself from the heat. Far are those times when grandma would prepare you a cold infusion of water with mint or place a bucket of ice in front of the fan as home remedies when you came back all sweaty from playing in the neighborhood square. Today the situation is quite the opposite. Now these home recipes fall rather short in the face of premature and record-breaking summers that force us to seek refuges everywhere. Before summer arrives, children and the elderly fill the squares, libraries, and neighborhood centers to try to alleviate the stifling heat. The idyllic postcard of a neighborhood network contrasts with the image of sweaty neighbors leaning between the bars and ledges of windows, especially in the poorest neighborhoods of Catalonia, where nearly 30% of vulnerable people cannot afford air conditioning. Inequalities are increasing, and the capacity of certain sectors of society to cope with heatwaves is becoming increasingly limited.