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Spectacular buildings on the sea, with the magic of Fata Morgana, on Gavà beach, as we can see in this snapshot in The Photos of La Vanguardia Readers.
The beach overflowing with people and the floating city in the background, causing a stir and admiration for its beauty among the bathers who were at that moment contemplating this phenomenon.
The Fata Morgana effect gets its name from the Italian fata Morgana (meaning fairy Morgana), referring to King Arthur’s half-sister (Morgan le Fay) who, according to legend, was a shapeshifting fairy.
It is a mirage or optical illusion that is due to a temperature inversion. Objects on the horizon, such as islands, cliffs, ships, or ice floes, take on an elongated, raised appearance, similar to “fairy-tale castles.” Or, as in this case of the ship, it seems to be carrying buildings on the sea.
The most famous Fata Morgana is the one produced on the southern coast of Sicily, in the Strait of Messina, between Calabria and Sicily.
However, references to the so-called floating cities off the coast of Barcelona are increasing as a result of two factors: favorable weather conditions for generating the Fata Morgana effect and, secondly, the significant traffic of large ships, whether they are cruise ships or merchant ships, which are in the Port of Barcelona.