Around Vallès Occidental, from Terrassa to Vacarisses

The museum reflects the whole history of the technical and industrial evolution developed by humans up to the present, framed within a spectacular steam factory designed by the modernista architect Lluís Muncunill in the early 20th century. This is mNACTEC, a place that, if you haven’t visited yet, it’s high time you did!

In the museum you’ll find around ten permanent exhibitions along with temporary ones. One of the most detailed is The Textile Factory. Machines from the past that give you an insight into how wool was washed, spun or woven in deafening noise and signs from the time that help us understand a little more about the harsh working conditions. ‘Work in silence. Talking prevents perfect work’, we can read in one of them. The working day of the coal miners can’t have been any happier. The mNACTEC basement houses one of the most effective recreations, showing the whole process of coal extraction and its use as a source of energy, as well as the heaters and steam engine. From here you can reach the very heart of the chimney.

The exhibition Enérgeia offers many practical and interactive experiences related to energy, such as the Faraday Cage, where you can experience high tension demonstrations. There are also moving models in motion, painstaking reconstructions and diverse machines and objects.

One the extensions of mNACTEC is Casa Alegre de Sagrera, and, depending on how long you’ve spent in the museum, you can still visit it before lunch. We know that the Sagrera family moved to Terrassa from the countryside in the late 18th century and that they became one of the wealthiest families in the town. The house was designed by the architect Melchor Viñals in 1911, who turned it into an excellent example of a middle-class modernista dwelling. Now we can enjoy its beautiful rooms with delights such as the Salvans collection of eastern art, the Martínez Lozano painting collection, the Mateu Avellaneda drawing collection, and the legacies of the writers Agustí Bartra and Ferran Canyameres.

At lunch you can go to the restaurant Can Vinyers, located in the Sant Llorenç del Munt Natural Park, where they serve creative Mediterranean cuisine.

In the afternoon you’ll head to Vacarisses. The La Frasera estate is on the outskirts, with 47 hectares of forest, ten of which are devoted to the cultivation of olive trees, and two country houses: Castellet de Dalt, which offers rural accommodation and has a cheese dairy, and Castellet de Baix, with a herd of sheep and a milking room. The estate can be visited or, of course, you can spend the night there and fully enjoy these natural surroundings, organic products and paths at your leisure. If you are more towny or it fits in better with your plans for the following day then we recommend the 1900 Bed & Breakfast, with a modernista ambience in the heart of Terrassa.