Rated one of the top 100 wineries in the world
Where they keep 3 to 4 million bottles of cavas ‘resting’ at the right temperature
where bottles are turned every few hours to get the sediments to the neck of the bottle and then extracted
Most cultures have learned to ferment something for their local drinks. Fortunately, the Catalon area had settlers come from the French Champagne region who brought their grapes and traditional drinks with them.
We visited the old vineyards and newer storage caves (made in the traditional way) of the Pere Venture wineries, which was a 45-minute drive out of the city into the nice sloping hills near the base of the impressively iconic jagged Mont Serrat.
Our local tour guides both had spent time overseas in Australia, New Zealand and some time in France, and were happy to come back to their family, language and culture. We fully embraced the local custom of drinking cava (their name for local champagne) early in the morning with Tapas (small bites of cheese, sausage and bread), and then moved onto sample their red and white wines along with local chocolate and more cheeses. A pretty good way to immerse yourself.
We met up with other seasoned travelers from The States, the short-hand way to identify yourself, and enjoyed trading stories of where we all had been and identifying where to go next.
After a much needed siesta, we headed out to the main Plaça d’Espanya, where every night thousands of people come to see the colorful Magic Water Fountains show. From our high perch on top of a former bullring turned into retail mall, we had a great view and avoided the crowds. We heard stories earlier of people coming to celebrate New Year’s Eve here and it was standing room only – a bit harder to enjoy your 12 grapes and cava.
Today, we are planning a few more local attractions, plan to see a soccer game at a local bar and then try our hand out making these traditional tapas and Sangria.
Siri and David Adventures 