About a hundred inhabitants of Calpe have travelled this week to El Puerto de Santa Maria, a town in Cadiz twinned with Calpe, as part of the commemorative events of the centenary of the Fishermen's Guild.
The delegation, led by the Mayoress Ana Sala, has visited the Bullring, the Basilica of Los Milagros and the Palace of Aranibar and has been received at the Town Hall by the Mayor Germán Beardo Caro. The Calpe delegation is also expected to take part in the inauguration of the official lighting of the Spring Fair and the Wine Festival this evening.
The towns of El Puerto de Santa María and Calpe have been twinned since October 1989. This twinning was ratified in 2001 with the visit of a delegation from El Puerto to Calpe during the Moors and Christians festivities. In April 2002, nearly 200 Calpe inhabitants travelled to El Puerto to take part in the events to consolidate the twinning.
The two towns have many links, as El Puerto de Santa María was the destination in the 1920s, 30s and 40s of many Calpe inhabitants who moved to Andalusia to work in the fishing industry in the area. As a result of these migratory movements, there are numerous Calpinos or descendants of Calpinos living in El Puerto.
With the arrival of the Calpinos in Puerto de Santa Maria in the 30‘s and 40’s, a constant flow of families from one place to another began and a source of work and wealth in which the Calpino collective had a great influence. The Calpe sailors were highly appreciated for their work capacity and good work. Many of these families from Calpe returned and others settled permanently in El Puerto. In fact, there is a plaque in the port area of the Cadiz municipality which remembers and recognises the fishermen from Alicante who for decades worked in the fishing sector of the city.
Today, Calpinos and Portuenses maintain family ties, many Calpe surnames have remained in the El Puerto, surnames that are already identified as their own. Almost 700 kilometres separate El Puerto de Santa María from Calpe, but as a result of those migratory movements there are numerous sentimental, historical and cultural links between the two cities.