Barcelona

Barcelona:

To start, we headed to our favorite bar La Vinya del Senyor, outside the 1384 Basilica Santa Maria del Mar in El Born Barcelona. We enjoyed a bottle of Rovellats 2012 Grand Reserva Cava, made just outside nearby Penedés.

Penedés

Click here for the map of our 14k walk through the vineyards near Penedés.

Vilafranca del Penedés is the center of Catalan Cava (sparking wine) production. They also make some very nice reds too.

It’s about an hour by train south-west of Barcelona.

Capella de Sant Joan in Penedés built early 14th century by Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem

We followed the “Modernista Route” through Penedés. There are about a dozen houses built in the early 20th century – spectacular buildings, with exposed brick and naturalist decoration on the facades.

Walked an easy 14k through the vineyards around Penedés, some vines already showing the new growth.

Can the most wonderful cava come from these old vines?

We stopped at a small village for Bunyols, a delicious traditional Catalan sweet made during Lent.

Penedés to Sitges

Click here for the map of our 21.8k hike from Penedés to Sitges.

We intended to take a train from Penedés to Sitges, but found we could walk along a series of tracks through the Garraf Massif Natural Park from Viladellops, a short taxi ride from Penedés. The 21.8 km took us 5½ hours.