Visits around Barcelona

The good public transport links make it easy to head further out of the city , too. The mountain-top monastery of Montserrat is the most obvious day-trip to make, though the beaches on either side of the city also beckon in the summer. With more time, you can follow various trails around the local wine country, head south to the Roman town of Tarragona , or north to medieval Girona and the Dalí museum in Figueres .

MONTSERRAT
The mountain of Montserrat, with its weirdly shaped crags of rock, its monastery and its ruined hermitage caves, stands just 40km northwest of Barcelona, off the road to Lleida. It is one of the most spectacular of all Spain's natural sights, a saw-toothed outcrop left exposed to erosion when the inland sea that covered this area around 25 million years ago was drained by progressive uplifts of the earth's crust. Legends hang easily upon it. Fifty years after the birth of Christ, Saint Peter is said to have deposited an image of the Virgin carved by Saint Luke in one of the mountain caves, and another tale makes this the spot in which the knight Parsifal discovered the Holy Grail.
Inevitably the monastery and mountain are no longer remote; in fact they're ruthlessly exploited as a tourist trip from the Costa Brava. But don't be put off - the place itself is still magical and you can avoid the crowds by striking out onto the mountainside, along well-signposted paths, to potent and deserted hermitages
Monastery of Montserrat
It is the "Black Virgin" ( La Moreneta ), the icon supposedly hidden by Saint Peter (and curiously reflecting the style of sixth-century Byzantine carving), which is responsible for the existence of the Monastery of Montserrat . The legend is loosely wrought, but it appears the icon was lost in the early eighth century after being hidden during the Moorish invasion. It reappeared in 880, accompanied by the customary visions and celestial music and, in the first of its miracles, would not budge when the Bishop of Vic attempted to remove it. A chapel was built to house it, and in 976 this was superseded by a Benedictine monastery, set about three-quarters of the way up the mountain at an altitude of nearly 1000m.
Miracles abounded and the Virgin of Montserrat soon became the chief cult-image of Catalunya and a pilgrimage centre second in Spain only to Santiago de Compostela (the main pilgrimages to Montserrat take place on April 27 and September 8). Over 150 churches were dedicated to the Virgin of Montserrat in Italy alone, as were the first chapels of Mexico, Chile and Peru; even a Caribbean island bears her name. For centuries, the monastery enjoyed outrageous prosperity, having its own flag and a form of extraterritorial independence along the lines of the Vatican City, and its fortunes declined only in the nineteenth century. In 1811 Napoleon's troops devastated the buildings, stole many of the treasures and "hunted the hermits like chamois along the cliffs". In 1835 the monastery was suppressed for its Carlist sympathies. Monks were allowed to return nine years later but by 1882 their numbers had fallen to nineteen. In recent decades Montserrat's popularity has again become established; there are over three hundred brothers and, in addition to the tourists, tens of thousands of newly married couples come here to seek La Moreneta 's blessing on their union.
Quite apart from its spiritual significance, Montserrat has become an important nationalist symbol for Catalans. At the beginning of last century, Montserrat's Abbot Marcel was a vigorous promoter of the Catalan language, creating a printing press in 1918 which published the Montserrat Bible in Catalan. During Franco's dictatorship books continued to be secretly and illegally printed here, and it was then and afterwards the site of massive Catalan nationalist demonstrations.

SITGES
30km south of Barcelona, is definitely the highlight of the Costa Daurada - the great weekend escape for young Barcelonans, who have created a resort very much in their own image. It's also a noted gay holiday destination, with a nightlife to match; indeed, if you don't like vigorous action of all kinds, you'd be wise to avoid Sitges in the summer: staid it isn't. As well as a certain style, the Barcelona trippers have brought with them the high prices from the Catalan capital, while finding anywhere to stay (at any price) can be a problem in summer unless you book well in advance. None of this deters the varied and generally well-heeled visitors, however, and nor should it, since Sitges as a sort of Barcelona-on-Sea is definitely worth experiencing.

TARRAGONA
Majestically sited on a rocky hill, sheer above the sea, TARRAGONA is an ancient place. Settled originally by Iberians and then Carthaginians, it was later used as the base for the Roman conquest of the peninsula, which began in 218 BC with Scipio's march south against Hannibal. The fortified city became an imperial resort and, under Augustus, Tarraco became capital of Rome's eastern Iberian province - the most elegant and cultured city of Roman Spain, boasting at its peak a quarter of a million inhabitants. Time spent in the handsome upper town quickly shows what attracted the emperors to the city: strategically and beautifully placed, it's a fine setting for some splendid Roman remains and a few excellent museums. There's an attractive medieval part, too, while the rocky coastline below conceals a couple of reasonable beaches. You can be here in an hour and a half from Barcelona, by bus or train, which makes it a reasonably lengthy day-trip. If you want to stay the night instead, book accommodation in advance, especially in July and August.

GIRONA
A n hour and twenty minutes by bus or train from Barcelona - stands on a fortress-like hill, high above the River Onyar. It's been fought over in almost every century since it was the Roman fortress of Gerunda on the Via Augusta, and perhaps more than any other place in Catalunya, it retains the distinct flavour of its erstwhile inhabitants. Following the Moorish conquest of Spain, Girona was an Arab town for over two hundred years, a fact apparent in the maze of narrow streets in the centre, and there was also a continuous Jewish presence here for six hundred years. By the eighteenth century, Girona had been besieged on 21 occasions, and in the nineteenth century it earned itself the nickname "Immortal" by surviving five attacks, of which the longest was a seven-month assault by the French in 1809. Not surprisingly, all this attention has bequeathed the city a hotchpotch of architectural styles, from Roman classicism to modernisme , yet the overall impression for the visitor is of an overwhelmingly beautiful medieval city, whose attraction is heightened by its river setting.
Catedral
The centrepiece of the old city is Girona's Catedral (daily: summer Mon-Sat 10am-2pm & 4-7pm, Sun 10am-2pm; winter Tues-Sat 10am-2pm & 4-7pm, Sun 10am-2pm; ?3), a mighty Gothic structure built on the hillside and approached by a magnificent flight of seventeenth-century Baroque steps. This area has been a place of worship since Roman times, and a Moorish mosque stood on the site before the foundation of the cathedral in 1038. Much of the present building dates from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but a few earlier parts can still be seen - including the eleventh-century north tower and the Romanesque cloisters with their exquisite sculpted capitals.
The main facade, remodelled in the eighteenth century, bursts with exuberant decoration: faces, bodies, coats of arms, and with saints Peter and Paul flanking the door. Inside, the cathedral is awesome - there are no aisles, just one tremendous single-naved Gothic vault with a span of 22m, the largest in the world. This emphasis on width and height is a feature of Catalan-Gothic with its "hall churches", of which, unsurprisingly, Girona's is the ultimate example. Contemporary sceptics declared the vault to be unsafe, and building only went ahead after an appeal by its designer, Guillermo Bofill, to a panel of architects.
You can visit the cloisters by buying a ticket to the Museu Capitular which is rich in religious art, including a perfect Beatus illuminated by Mozarabic miniaturists in 975, and the famous eleventh- to twelfth-century Creation Tapestry in the end room - the best piece of Romanesque textile in existence, depicting in strong colours the months and seasons, and elements of the earth. The irregularly shaped cloisters themselves (1180-1210) boast minutely carved figures and scenes on double columns, while steps lead up to a chamber above, full of ecclesiastical garb and adornments.
Museu Arqueològic and the city walls
From the cathedral square, the main street, Pujada Rei Marti, leads downhill to the River Galligans, a small tributary of the Onyar. The Museu Arqueològic (summer Tues-Sat 10.30am-1.30pm & 4-7pm, Sun 10am-2pm; winter Tues-Sat 10am-2pm & 4-6pm, Sun 10am-2pm; ?1.80, Sun free) stands on the far bank in the former church of Sant Pere de Galligans, a harmonious setting for the varied exhibits. The church itself holds Roman statuary, sarcophagi and mosaics, while the beautiful Romanesque cloisters contain heavier medieval relics, such as inscribed tablets and stones, including some bearing Jewish inscriptions. The extensive rooms above the cloisters go on to outline rather methodically the region's history, from Paleolithic times to the Romanization of the area: unless you read Spanish or Catalan you'll get little out of the lines of exhibit-filled cases and explanatory maps.
From the museum you can gain access to the Passeig Arqueològic , where steps and landscaped grounds lead up to the walls of the old city. There are fine views out over the rooftops and the cathedral, and endless little diversions into old watchtowers, down blind dead-ends and around crumpled sections of masonry.
Banys Arabs
Close to Sant Feliu, through the twin-towered Portal de Sobreportas below the cathedral, are Girona's so-called Banys Arabs (summer Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-2pm; winter Tues-Sun 10am-2pm; ?1.60), a civil building probably designed by Moorish craftsmen in the thirteenth century, a couple of hundred years after the Moors' occupation of Girona had ended. They are the best-preserved baths in Spain after those at Granada. The layout, a series of three principal rooms for different temperatures, with an underfloor heating system, is influenced ultimately by the Romans. The cooling room (the frigidarium ) is the most interesting; niches (for your clothes) and a stone bench provide seats for relaxation after the steam bath, while the room is lit, most unusually, by a central skylight-vault supported by octagonally arranged columns.
Carrer de la Força and the Call
Quite apart from its Roman remains and Arab influences, Girona also contains the best-preserved Jewish quarter in Western Europe. There is evidence that Jews settled in Girona before the Moorish invasion, although the first mention of a real settlement - based in the streets around the cathedral - dates from the end of the ninth century. Gradually, the settlement spread, having as its main street c/de la Força , which in turn followed the course of the old Roman road, Via Augusta. The area was known as the Call and at its height was home to around three hundred people who formed a sort of independent town within Girona, protected by the king in return for payment. From the eleventh century onwards, however, the Jewish community suffered systematic and escalating persecution, with attacks on them and their homes by local people: in 1391 a mob killed forty of the Call's residents, while the rest were locked up in a Roman fortress until the fury had subsided. For the next hundred years, until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the Call was effectively a ghetto, its residents restricted to its limits, forced to wear distinguishing clothing if they did leave, and prevented from having doors or windows opening onto c/de la Força.
For an idea of the layout of this sector of tall, narrow houses and maze-like interconnecting passages, visit the Centre Bonastruc Ça Porta (summer Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-3pm; winter Tues-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-3pm; ?1.80), formerly the Centre Isaac el Cec, which is signposted (to "Call Jueu") up the skinniest of stepped streets off c/de la Força. Opened to the public in 1975, the complex of rooms, staircases, a courtyard and adjoining buildings off c/de Sant Llorenç is an attempt to give an impression of the cultural and social life of Girona's medieval Jewish community - this was the site of the synagogue (though the exact spot hasn't yet been identified), the butcher's shop and the community baths. It's hoped in the future to house a museum of Jewish culture on the premises.
Museu d'Història de la Ciutat
At c/de la Força no. 27, housed in an eighteenth-century convent, the Museu d'Història de la Ciutat (Tues-Sat 10am-2pm & 5-7pm, Sun 10am-2pm; ?1.20) completes Girona's set of museums and is probably the most rewarding of the lot. Remains of the convent's cemetery are visible as you enter, with niches reserved for the preserved bodies of the inhabitants. The rest of the collection is fascinating, less for the insights into how Girona developed as a city - though this is explained efficiently through text, exhibits and photos - than for the strange, miscellaneous bits and pieces displayed. A circuit of the rooms shows you old radios from the 1930s, a 1925 Olivetti typewriter, a printing press, cameras, machine tools, engines and a dozen other mechanical and electrical delights.

SANT CUGAT DEL VALLÈS
is the closest of the towns to Barcelona, and these days little more than a rich suburb of the city. It's easily reached by FGC train from Plaça de Catalunya in around twenty minutes. Here, the Benedictine Reial Monestir was founded as far back as the ninth century, though most of the surviving buildings date from three or four hundred years later. Finest of them is a beautiful twelfth-century Romanesque cloister (June-Sept Tues-Sat 10am-1pm & 3.30-5.30pm; Oct-May Tues-Sat 10am-1pm; ?1.80) with noteworthy capital carvings of mythical beasts and biblical scenes. They have an unusual homogeneity since they were all done by a single sculptor, Arnau Gatell.
With your own car (or jump in a taxi; it won't be expensive), you can combine a visit to Sant Cugat with a meal in one of the district's finest country restaurants , the Can Cortès , at Avda Can Cortès 20, on an isolated hill out of the centre between Sant Cugat and Tibidabo. Ring ahead to reserve a table (tel 936 741 704) and experience fine Catalan dining: expect a large bill.

MANRESA
Trains from Montserrat Aeri take less than an hour to reach the small industrial town of MANRESA , to the north; it's also on the less-direct Barcelona-Lleida train route, which passes through Terrassa. The train stops alongside the river that runs through the town, and you barely need to get off to appreciate Manresa's only real attraction - the crumbling Santa Maria de la Seu towering on a rock outpost overhead. Begun in the fourteenth century, this huge church took two hundred years to build, and is decorated by diving gargoyles and a great circular window over the three frontal arches. From the church, a few minutes' walk takes you downhill to the Plaça Major, where there's a bar-restaurant (with a bargain menú del dia ) where you can fill in the time waiting for your return train. There's little else to do except wander the steep old town streets, looking for some of the more unusual buildings - little minaretted houses with circular terraces and bay windows.

TERRASSA
Frequent trains run from Barcelona to TERRASSA , a large (150,000-strong) town about 20km out of the city. The centre is dull and industrial, and the only reason to come here is for the unusual complex of three pre-Romanesque churches, dating from the eighth to the tenth centuries, that were built on the site of the former Roman town of Egara. The churches are grouped together, a few kilometres from the town centre, near Plaça Rector Homs. At the largest, Sant Pere (Tues-Sat 10am-1.30pm & 4-7pm, Sun 11am-2pm), you'll find a guide who'll also show you around Santa Maria and the most interesting building here, Sant Miquel , erected in the fifth century and with many Roman columns reused in its construction.

WINE REGION
Regular local trains from Sants Estació or Plaça de Catalunya run west from Barcelona into L'Alt Penedès , a region roughly halfway between the city and Tarragona, devoted to wine production. It's the largest Catalan producer of still and sparkling wines, and boasts the most vineyards, too - this becomes increasingly clear the further the train delves into the region. There are two main towns to visit, both of which can be seen in a single day with suitable stops at the wine cellars for hand-steadiers on the way: Sant Sadurní , the closer to Barcelona, is the self-styled Capital del Cava, home to around fifty producers of sparkling wine; Vilafranca del Penedès , twenty minutes down the line, is the region's administrative capital and produces mostly still wine.

VILAFRANCA DEL PENEDÈS
As a town, VILAFRANCA DEL PENEDÈS is rather more interesting than Sant Sadurní. Founded in the eleventh century in an attempt to attract settlers to land retaken from the expelled Moors, it became a prosperous market centre. This character is still in evidence today, with fine arcaded streets adorned with restored medieval mansions.
From the train station , walk up to the main Rambla and cut to the right up c/de Sant Joan to the enclosed Plaça de Sant Joan, which has a small daily market. There's a tourist office at c/Cort 4 (tel 938 920 358) where you can get a map and information about the region. Behind, in Plaça Jaume I, opposite the much-restored Gothic church of Santa Maria, the Museu de Vilafranca (Mon-Sat 10am-2pm & 4-7pm, Sun 10am-2pm; ?3) is housed in a twelfth-century palace and worth visiting largely for its section on the region's wine industry. The major local producer is Torres , and you can continue your research at their headquarters, just behind the train station on c/Doctor Janer; the opening hours change according to the season, but the tourist office should have the current times for tours of the plant.
There are plenty of restaurants in town, as well as shops selling the local wines. The Festa Major , at the end of August and the first couple of days in September, brings the place to a standstill: dances and parades clog the streets, while the festival is most widely known for its display of castellers - teams of people competing to build human towers.
Sant Sadurní d'Anoia
Half an hour from Barcelona, built on land watered by the River Noya, SANT SADURNÍ D'ANOIA has been an important centre of wine production since the eighteenth century. When, at the end of the nineteenth century, French vineyards suffered heavily from disease, Sant Sadurní prospered, though later it too succumbed to the same wasting disease - something remembered still in the annual September festival by the parade of a representation of the feared Philoxera parasite. The production of cava , for which the town is now famous, began only in the 1870s, an industry that went hand in hand with the Catalan cork business, carried on in the forests of the hinterland. Today, a hundred million bottles a year of cava - the Catalan méthode champenoise - are turned out by two-score companies, many of which are only too happy to escort you around their premises, show you the complicated fermentation process, and let you taste the odd glass or two into the bargain.
The town itself is of virtually no interest, but it hardly matters since most people never get any further than the most prominent (and most famous) company, Freixenet , whose building is right outside the train station (call 938 917 000 to reserve a place: tours Mon-Thurs at 10am, 11.30am, 3.30pm and 5pm; Fri 10 & 11.30am; free). Many of the other companies have similar arrangements, with tours at similar times, and some of the most popular are signposted throughout the town -including Cordoniu (with a fine building by Puig i Cadafalch; tel 938 183 232 for information), Juvé i Camps, Torelló, Torre-Blanca, Castell de Vilarnau, Portabella i Coma, Canals i Domingo and Berral i Miró. You can pick up a map of the town listing all the cava producers at the tourist office , which is in the Ajuntament in the main square, Plaça de la Vila; from the station, cross the river and walk up the hill, turning left at the top for the square.
If you don't want to wine-taste on an empty stomach, Restaurant La Terrassa , c/Josep A. Clavé 14, has an outdoor grill and a good menú del dia , as well as a wine list featuring some of the local cavas . From the main square, head up c/Escayola and c/Raval and it's down on the right.
Cava is a naturally sparkling wine made using the méthode champenoise . The basic grape varieties of L'Alt Penedès are macabeu, xarel.lo and parellada , which are fermented to produce a wine base and then mixed with sugar and yeast before being bottled: a process known as tiratge . The bottles are then sealed hermetically - the tapat - and laid flat in cellars - the criança - to ferment for a second time. The wine is later decanted to get rid of the sediment before being finally corked.
The cava is then classified according to the amount of sugar used in the fermentation: either Brut (less than 20 grams a litre) or Sec (20-30 grams); Semisec (30-50 grams) or Dolç (more than 50 grams). This is the first thing to take note of before buying or drinking: Brut and Sec are to most people's tastes and are excellent with almost any food; Semisec and Dolç are better used as dessert wines. To drink it at its best, serve cava at between 6 and 8°C, and remember - whatever your brain is telling you, and however swiggable that third bottle might be - it is alcoholic.
The Setmana del Cava - a sort of cava festival - is held in Sant Sadurní in the second week of October. If you're around at that time, it's well worth going out of your way for.

COAST

All trains to the beaches depart from Sants Estació, which is where you should go for current timetables; departures are very frequent. Those heading south to Castelldefels (and on to Sitges) also stop at the station at Passeig de Gràcia; north to the Costa Maresme, you can pick the train up at Plaça de Catalunya.

PYRINEO & ANDORRA
Catalonia is a country of contrasts: next to the coast with its magnificent beaches the Pyrenees are within a reachable distance. In only two-four hours (depending on where you want to go), you can enjoy hiking, climbing or rafting in the Pyrenees. There are also numerous caves with ancient drawings and stalactites to discover. During wintertime, the Pyrenees are a fantastic skiing-area.
Andorra is a shopping paradise in the middle of the Pyrenees. Enjoy tax-free shopping in one of the numerous malls.

BESALÚ & OLOT
Besalú is a beautiful medieval village with a huge bridge from the 12th century spanning the river Fluvià. Especially during the early evening its small winding streets, the old stone houses and the two main squares evolve a special romantic atmosphere. Olot is the largest town in the area and is mostly known for the more than 30 inactive volcanoes and lava sculptures. The city itself was destroyed at the beginning of the 15th century in an earthquake, but nevertheless Olot has some impressive 18th century Modernist buildings. Both cities can be reached within two hours by car or train from Barcelona.

TOSSA DE MAR(Costa Brava)
Tossa del Mar is, about one hour by car or train from Barcelona, is an interesting example of how to combine mass tourism and monument protection effectively. Even though year-by-year thousands of tourists occupy the city during the summer, Tossa has obtained its original charm. The beautiful old centre with its small streets and stairs made of natural stone, the city wall and defence towers all stem from the 12th century. The ruins of an ancient gothic church and a lighthouse overlook the city; small restaurants beneath invite you to sit down and rest.