The other week, G and I took a short trip out of Barcelona to spend the night in a 9th century castle. Well, the oldest part is 9th century, the rest having been added to, changed, destroyed and rebuilt over the years. Still, pretty awesome to think that we were sharing the same space where people had been living, working, flighting, held prisoner and even tortured (seriously, the anti-room to the current restaurant was actually used as a torture-chamber) over the past thousand years.
Of course to G it’s not such a big deal. He’s from Florence, so grew up surrounded by medieval wonder. But for me, coming from a country in which you’d be lucky to find a building standing that is 200 years old, it’s a thrill - even after all these years living in Europe. Not that G is a spoil-sport, he lets me ramble on about how “amazing” it is to think about all the people who had been standing in this spot or that over this century or that, feigning interest as best as he can. God bless him.
Anyway, it’s called Cardona Castle and is about an hour-drive north-west of Barcelona, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The setting is pretty spectacular. The castle looks very imposing set up high on a steep hill overlooking the town of Cardona. From one side of the castle there are views up to the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees and from the other, to the jagged rock crown of Montserrat. Just behind the town you can see the reason why Cardona was once so important as to deserve a castle like this: a massive salt mountain.
Salt is still being dug out from the Cardona mine, as it has been since even before the Roman’s got there. A tour through the mine is meant to be well worth it, according to TripAdvisor. Unfortunately I didn’t read this until after we got there and we chose to visit on the only day (Monday) that the mine was closed.
There is another reason why Cardona has such an imposing castle. It used to be right on the border with Al-Andalus - Moorish Spain - so it was important for both keeping the Moors back and as a base for incursions into Moorish territory in attempts to claw it back for Christendom. Also, being so close to France, it was important for keeping out invaders from the north. Legend has it that it was assailed a thousand times and never fell.
The mine and the castle are said to be the main things to do in Cardona, but I think a walk around the medieval town centre is essential too. It won’t take long, it’s small and when we were there at least, there was very little going on. But its narrow, hilly streets, ancient buildings and stone and wooden archways are enchanting.
There is a beautiful, austere 13th century Gothic church there too. It’s greatest treasures were a little hidden from us though as, as so happens in Spanish churches, they are tucked away in dark corners that require a Euro to be inserted into the light switch to allow you to enjoy them – and we walked into the church without a single coin between us.
The castle is these days a Parador hotel. The Paradores is a state-owned network of hotels, a great many of which occupy grand old buildings that form part of Spain’s national heritage. They were started by King Alfonso XIII (Spain's last king before the Second Republic). The idea was that by restoring these buildings and turning them into hotels they could help pay for their own upkeep, both saving them and breathing life into the Spanish countryside via tourism.
If I’m honest, I find the Paradores a little bit stuck in the 70s in terms of their offerings and styling, but the magnificent buildings that many of them are housed in I think makes us for this failing. The Spanish government is currently in the process of selling the Paradores off. This will probably update the offering, I just hope some pretty strict clauses are included for maintaining their important heritage role.
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