Poblet Monastery
Poblet Monastery is one of the largest and most complete Cistercian abbeys in the world. It dates from the 12th century.
It also is a massive military complex, and has served as a royal palace, residence and pantheon.
Visit August 2006
We rented a car to go to Poblet from Barcelona, it took us about 1.5 hour to get there. The monastery's sharp, edgy towers make a pretty sight from a distance. We were there early (at 10 a.m., when it opens to the public), not many other cars on the huge car park next door.
The entrance fee of 5 EUR includes a guided tour. They are only given in Spanish, Catalan and French - but we were provided with a booklet in Dutch and could tag along with a Spanish group. The friendly guide made sure that we got the main message of each part of the tour.
The tour was a bit too hurried to our taste: we would have liked to stay in the various rooms a bit longer.
More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery
Reviews
Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
The Cistercian monastery of Poblet is one of the more interesting and impressive buildings I have been to. The fact that it houses the tombs of a long line of kings and queens of Aragon in a great pantheon makes it especially noteworthy. Anybody coming to Catalonia should try to visit Poblet, located in the hills northwest of Tarragona, since you will hardly ever come across a better monastery anywhere. Having said that, however, you should either have a private car or join a bus tour, since reaching Poblet by public transport is very inconvenient, to say the least. I didnīt really mind the 4-km walk from the nearest train station, since the weather was great even in late October, but I donīt think many people would do the same (and there were hardly any signs). |
| Date posted: November 2005 |
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