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City: Barcelona, Spain

ArtCava: Masia Can Batlle, s/n, 08793 Avinyó Nou, Barcelona, Spain

Santa María de Montserrat: 08199 Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain

If you can carve an extra day to get outside the city center of Barcelona, then a visit to Montserrat and partaking in a cava tour & tasting will be well worth your time. The monastery in these famous Catalan mountains unites a community of around eighty Benedictine monks, and sits at the foot of the most peculiar looking rock formations. Make sure to take a ride up the funicular to get a breathtaking birds eye view! Then swing by a vineyard on your way back and learn all about the process of making cava. Of course, no cava tour is complete without doing a tasting at the end, and bringing home a bottle or two… for the road of course.

Montserrat Monastery

Beautiful Monserrat Spain is just an hour drive outside of Barcelona. It is one of the most unique places in Catalonia due its peculiar semi-rounded, sand castle like rock formations, earning it the name Montserrat, or “sawtooth mountain”. It is famous for the monastery of Santa María de Montserrat, which houses an ancient wooden statue of the Virgin and Child. Most of the statue sits behind a protective sheet of glass, except for one hand. In this hand the statue holds a sphere, which represents the universe. This is the only part of the statue not protected behind glass and it is said that pilgrims simply need to touch this exposed area to be healed.

Funicular de Sant Joan

The funicular takes you on quite a steep journey even further up the mountain to its very peak. A glass ceiling on the funicular allows you to enjoy views of the whole of Montserrat as you climb up the side of the mountain. Upon arriving at the top of the Sant Joan Funicular you, you’ll enjoy a bird’s eye view of the entire Montserrat Monastery plus uninterrupted views of the whole of Catalunya.

Artcava

ArtCava is made up of two entrepreneurs: Èric, who is the winemaker, and Ignasi, who takes care of the business stuff. They are a small winery offering a variety of different cava tours. Located in one of the most enchanting locations in Europe, ArtCava is in the Penedès (just 40 minutes from Barcelona). They make 18,000 bottles of quality artisan cava with their own brand every year, no chemicals, no expedition liqueurs. Just passion.