La Ruta del Cister: Medieval spirit and land of human towers

From one capital to another. While Valls is the capital of Alt Camp, Montblanc is the capital of Conca de Barberà. The latter town (which has been a ducal town since 1387) is without doubt one of the places you must visit, and not just in this region but in all of Catalonia. To see the most important features without missing out on anything, you can sign up for a guided tour. The local Tourist Information Office is located in an old church in Plaça de Sant Francesc, and you can also see a 3D audiovisual presentation there that explains why Catalan folklorist Joan Amades connects the legend of Saint George and the dragon (Sant Jordi, as he’s known in Catalan, is the patron saint of Catalonia) with this particular town.

The outer walls are one of the big attractions of this medieval town, and within them you can stroll through the streets, discovering hidden corners and gateways, see the palace-fortress of Castlà and the church of Sant Miquel, visit the church of Santa Maria la Major (a notable gothic building), and head up to the Pla de Santa Bàrbara, from where you will get an excellent panoramic view of the town. Outside the walls, but not far away, you can see the old Hospital de Santa Magdalena and the Old Bridge (Pont Vell), which crosses the Francolí River.

To find out more about Montblanc and the county, pay a visit to the County Museum (Museu Comarcal) located in the beautiful Casa dels Josa building. You might also like to see the Cave Painting Study Centre (Centre d’Interpretació de l’Art Rupestre, or CIAR), a space for studying the art that distant predecessors left behind in Muntanyes de Prades.

Ten kilometres separate Montblanc from the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet, so after lunch that’s the next place to head. It’s the only one of the three monasteries on the La Ruta del Cister that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and certainly its majestic appearance and large size, as well as the beauty of its cloisters and even the tombs of the kings and queens buried there, more than justify this recognition. In addition, today a community of monks continues to live in Poblet.

In front of the monastery, there is a grand esplanade (Plaça de la Corona d’Aragó) from where you can enjoy a memorable view of the building, with its two hexagonal towers in the central area (which seem more like parts of a castle than a monastery) that flank the Royal Gate. Once inside, you'll soon find yourself in the cloister, an excellent example of such, with all the elements to let you enjoy a top-notch, live art-history class, highlighting the differences between the Romanic and gothic styles. Next you visit the marvellous rooms of the monastery. Construction started in the mid-12th century just after Ramon Berenguer IV conquered the local lands, and during its history, the monastery has lived through some splendid times, and others that were more difficult and destructive. But today it's a place filled with light. In the church, for example, you can see a magnificent alabaster altarpiece from the 16th century as well as the tombs of eight kings and six queens of the Aragonese Crown, who have lain here for centuries.

If you have enough time, take a trip to the Caves of l’Espluga de Francolí. The town is very close to Poblet, and the caves are one of the largest in the world formed by conglomerate rock. If you’re a fan of caving, you’re sure to love this visit, and if you make an advanced booking, there is the chance of taking a tour through a subterranean river – only suitable for the brave.

This morning you'll head to the oldest visitable monument in the region, a Roman columbarium in Vila-Rodona. The columbarium would have been part of a funerary religious rite, cremation, which was widely used in Roman times until the first third of the second century AD. The remains of the deceased, placed on a pyre of wood, were cremated, and the ashes remaining were kept in clay urns. Around the fifth century BC, the urns were stored in circular or rectangular buildings with built-in niches for just that purpose.

You can take a guided tour from the Ajuntament (City Hall), and if you are there around mid-May, you can also see a re-creation of a Roman burial as part of the Tarraco Viva programme. Check for dates and prices.

You’ve seen Poblet and Vallbona de les Monges, leaving just one more monastery, Santes Creus, to visit. Unlike the other two, at Santa Creues (which is in the county of Alt Camp), there is no longer an active monastic community – indeed, it came to an end back in 1835. The fact that it is uninhabited, however, means that visitors can move more freely around the complex, while some parts of it have been converted into exhibition spaces, such as two rooms which provide an excellent audiovisual guide that takes you back to the early days of the monastery.

To get to the entrance of Santes Creus, you have to cross the long square of Sant Bernat Calbó, which has a 16th-century fountain dedicated to this saint. The buildings there are very interesting and a haven of peace, and you can wander around the Abbot’s Palace and enjoy its small cloister.

Once inside the monastery itself, the main cloister – a beautiful place with capitals that’s worth a close look – works as a point of access to the different parts of the building: the chapter-house, the kitchen, the dining room, the church (which retains some original windows from the 12th century, possibly the oldest remaining on the whole continent)... In Santes Creus, you can visit a second cloister, which is older and more humble, with a cemetery that has just one cross. This is because, despite the grandness of the buildings, the life of the monks was also austere, and if it wasn’t for the visits that kings sometimes made there, doubtless some elements (such as the previously mentioned capitals) would be much simpler. Talking of kings, in the church there are the remains of Pere II the Great and Jaume II the Just. The latter is accompanied by his wife, Blanca d’Anjou, while the former lies close to Admiral Roger de Llúria following the express wishes of the second man. The dormitory is also impressive, 46 metres long with diaphragmatic stone arches, which might remind you of Drassanes or Saló del Tinell in the Palau Reial Major, both in Barcelona. This is certainly a place worthy of seeing before you head home.