Catalunya Central

As the season advances, the Montseny, bathed in autumnal colours, invites you to explore spaces, soaked in water in the hanging mist. Nevertheless, the Montseny's pulse does not falter and its mythical inhabitants, like the witches and the water ladies, and its legendary characters, such as bandit Serrallonga, emerge at every step. The Espai Montseny, in Viladrau, is a good way of finding out about these legends through its interactive multimedia resources for all ages. As is a visit to La Sala, the country house of the most famous bandit, Joan Sala i Ferrer, Serrallonga. Legends apart, and with one's feet on the ground once again, Viladrau's landscape is outstanding for its chestnut trees, the chestnut festival this year being held on 28 and 29 October. A visit to the festival also provides a good opportunity to go into the town where you can see the church of Sant Martí, first documented as a parish within the domains of Taradell castle, and the Capella de la Pietat, dating from 1603.
 
The excursion to Montseny continues up to Espinelves. An easy walk along the Guilleries pathways leads there from Viladrau. Having reached this small village with its narrow streets and charming little squares, you can visit the Romanesque church of Sant Vicenç, notable for its altar frontal, which is an exact replica of the original kept in the Museu d’Art Medieval in Vic (MEV). A visit to the Masjoan botanical garden will return you to nature to enjoy the beauty of the monumental trees there. It is an idyllic location where you can get away from it all and admire the impressive trees, the tallest in Catalonia, planted between 1860 and 1953, some of which have been declared as part of our country's natural heritage.
 
The visit leads to Arbúcies. The municipality, surrounded by holm oaks, has treasures well worth discovering, such as Montsoriu castle, associated with the viscountcy of Cabrera since the 11th century, Montseny Ethnological Museum and La Gabella, a centre devoted to the exhibition and conservation of the cultural heritage of the Montseny massif, conducting research into it and raising awareness about it.

An excursion proposed in collaboration with the magazine Descobrir.

Towards the end of the 19th century the people of Bages altered the district's landscape with the addition of drystone walls, vineyard huts and large stone tubs known as tines. These changes took place between 1860 and 1890 in response to the large-scale planting of vines, which made the district the one with the largest area of land under vine in Catalonia. The heritage from those times has now become one of the jewels of our country's ethnological heritage. Moreover, since 2018 the art of drystone construction has been considered by UNESCO to be Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
 
The tines, or large stone tubs, of the Vall del Flequer, are located on the banks of the torrent course of the same name in the municipality of Pont de Vilomara i Rocafort, where you can also see the remarkable medieval bridge over the river Llobre­gat. From here you can follow a circular route that will take you to some of these large stone constructions, such as the Tines d'en Bleda—an ensemble hidden away in the woods, Les Tines d'en Tosques and the spectacular ensemble of l’Escudelleta, consisting of eleven circular stone tubs and seven stone huts. All of these constructions were for winemaking next to the vineyards, given that transporting grapes was very cumbersome and very expensive.
 
Nearby there are other places of interest that have left an impact on the history of the district and they are just waiting to be discovered. Such is the case with the monastery of Sant Benet de Bages, a former Benedictine abbey in the municipality of Sant Fruitós de Bages, and Talamanca castle, one of the ten locations on the 1714 Route where, in Catalonia, the most prominent events during the War of the Spanish Succession took place.
 
If you want to go back even further in time, the Central Catalonia UNESCO World Geopark is a must. It extends over de 1,250 square kilometres and consists of twenty-nine municipalities in Bages, five in the district of Moianès, and Collbató, in the Baix Llobregat. The spectacular rock formations and the natural resources that have defined this landscape are now more prominent than ever thanks to this initiative, with its guided tours, which explain such surprising features as the Central Catalonia Sea, the Cultural Park of the Salt Mountain of Cardona, and the tines de la Vall del Flequer route itself.

An excursion proposed in collaboration with the magazine Descobrir.

Folgueroles is between the Plana de Vic and Les Guilleries. It is the village where Jacint Verdaguer was born, one of the great poets of the Catalan Renaissance. The poet's influence can be seen in many places. The Verdaguer house-museum, for example, can be visited. This was the house where he lived as a child. It is located at number 7 of the Carrer Major. It was built in the 17th century but is decorated in the style of the mid-19th century. It shows what a country family's life was like in the poet's day and it introduces visitors to the life and times of the author of Canigó.
 
The museum organises guided tours for visitors around the places most closely associated with Ver­daguer. They include biographical explanations and the reading of some of his verses and prose. The visits include the parish church of Santa Maria, where he was baptised, and a stroll through the town to the Damunt hermitage, which he mentions in his poem, L'arpa. As well as having a flower garden, which he mentions, the site commands impressive views over the Plana de Vic, while the Pedraforca mountain rises on the horizon and some peaks in the Pyrenees can also be seen. The visit ends in Folgueroles in its role as an open museum on account of the sculpture entitled Àlbula. It is inspired by the poem Què és la poesia (What is poetry?) and it represents a book with blank pages. It is the same as another one in the Verdaguer Museum in Vil·la Joana, in Vallvidrera, as a symbol uniting the places where he was born and where he died.
 
As well as Folgueroles, Vic, the capital of Osona, was also a very important place for Verdaguer. Here you can follow the 'Jacint Verda­guer in Vic' route, an initiative by the Vic Tourist Office and the Jacint Verdaguer Foundation with the collaboration of the MEV Museu d’Art Medieval. The route starts on the balcony of Vic Town Council with a view over the Plaça del Mercadal and Carrer Verdaguer and continues with a stroll through the old centre, pausing to contemplate locations that conjure to mind his student days. The route also pauses at the Asil dels Capellans, which evokes the most dramatic period in the life of Father Cinto, (as he became known), when some of his closest friends abandoned him. The excursion ends at the MEV which, as well as exhibiting exceptional artistic works from the medieval period, also has a display of various items associated with the poet.

A visit to Berguedà can be like time travel because the district has a unique past that can transport you to the industrial Catalonia as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. We would suggest a car journey that you can take over the course of two days to visit the Riutort asphalt mine and the Cercs Mines Museum, as well as taking a trip along the Cement Railway.
 
THE RIUTORT ASPHALT MINE

You could start your tour by visiting the Riutort asphalt mine, which can be reached along the main road that goes from Guardiola de Berguedà to Pobla de Lillet (taking the track there just before the Espelt campsite). This is one of the few underground petroleum mines there are in the world. Two French engineers started work on the perforation of the mine in 1905 but, after 12 years of exploitation, and after digging 350 metres of underground galleries, no more than 500 tons of asphalt had been extracted.
 
CEMENT RAILWAY

Returning again to the main road to Pobla de Lillet, you come to the historic Cement Railway, a line that used to run from the former Asland cement factory in Castellar de n’Hug to Guardiola de Berguedà. Its current route takes approximately 20 minutes and passes through four stations: La Pobla de Lillet, La Pobla Centre, Jardins Artigas (designed at the beginning of the 20th century by Antoni Gaudí) and the Castellar de n'Hug Cement Museum. You could spend the night in one of the hotels or country houses in Guardiola de Berguedà, or Cercs.
 
SANT CORNELI COAL MINES

The following day you could visit the Sant Corneli coal mines in the municipality of Cercs. The Colònia de Sant Corneli, a company town, formed part, together with the neighbouring company towns of Sant Josep La Consolació, of the largest mining centre in Catalonia. The mines were exploited by the Carbones de Berga, S.A. company, which was founded in 1911 and remained active until 1991. Today you can find out more about the history of these mines at the Mines Museum in Cercs, which is devoted entirely to the mining of coal and which is located in the former company town of Sant Corneli. Guided tours inside the mine are also available.

BERGUEDÀ CUISINE

Having finished your visit, drop down into Berga for a good lunch. Some of the region's local specialities are pèsols negres (black peas) and patates emmascarades (a kind of bubble-and-squeak or hash). Bon profit!


Have we managed to inspire you? If you have any other interesting suggestions please send them to us on Facebook or publish your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #patrimonicultural