Tristan in Gaudi’s Park Guell

We flew to Spain primarily to climb, but I thought I’d show my teenage son Barcelona’s sights, including “Park Güell“, which houses the Gaudi museum and numerous of his buildings and  sculptures. Since our plane left Barcelona in the morning, we needed to drie back from Siurana a day before our flight to return our rental car. We chose a hotel within walking distance of Park Güell for our last night in town and spent the day walking around this fantastic park.

Chair in Gaudi museum

Detail on Sagrada Familia

Stone of Ignorance, Spiney Ridge

The weather promised to be great – warm, dry and sunny – not something we can take for granted in Colorado. Tristan and I grabbed our gear, our dog Nanda Devi, and headed south to Shelf Road. From Summit County, we left winter and our home at 9,500 feet to end up climbing in T-shirts and shorts, blissfully warm under bright blue skies.

We’d climbed very little (once since November) and decided to embark upon a get-in-shape program. Our goal was ten climbs for the day. I started out on a pleasant climb called Cheers on Spiney Ridge. After that we climbed Stone of Ignorance and two more climbs before breaking for lunch – homemade bread with cheese and olive oil, apples, plus for Tristan several additional granola and nut bars, fruit leather, and Lara bars.

After lunch, and lying in the sun to let the food digest, we headed five minutes over to Cactus Cliff where we climbed Kalahari Sidewinder and two routes next to it. Our plan was to then head to the alcove that holds Alexi’s climb plus five other easy routes, but five other climbers were already on that climb, even though it was Monday.
We walked a minute to Oscar de la Cholla – one of my favorites because it’s one of the few crack climbs at Cactus Cliff. After Oscar, we climbed the route to the right and then headed to Alexi’s climb. By then, nine routes later, I was really sore and tired and Alexi’s was about all I could do. Luckily, it was after 5 pm, and the other climbers had left. I quickly led Alexi’s, Tristan cleaned our gear, and we started trudging the mile or so to our car.

Oscar de la Cholla, Cactus Cliff

Upon our arrival in Barcelona, we walked from the Hostal Centric to the Sagrada Familia. We toured town, on foot, for 4 to 5 hours, in glorious bright sunshine, happy to finally arrive in Spain and to not be squished into a tiny airplane seat any more. We’d flown all night, so our marathon walk around town was in part to stave off falling asleep, and partly to counter the possibility of jet lag.

Towers with construction cranes

Construction of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s most famous building, started in 1882 and will continue at least until 2041.

Looking up at the Towers

Gaudí devoted most of his life to its construction and changed the design often. Gaudí’s modernist style was based on curved forms found in nature, as opposed to straight lines used in conventional buildings. At his death in 1926 only the nativity facade, one tower, the apse and the crypt were complete.

The Sagrada Familia will have 18 towers, which reach a height of almost 400 feet. Four towers on each of three facades represent the 12 apostles; another four represent the 4 evangelists and surround the largest (558ft tall) tower, dedicated to Christ.

Gaudí’s Casa Batlló

From our room in the Hostal Centric, we walked down  the Passeig de Gràcia, considered one of Barcelona’s most architecturally important streets.We first saw the magnificent Casa Batlló, a Gaudi house on the UNESCO World Heritage list.The expressive  Casa Batlló was originally built between 1875 and 1877. Its facade is made of sandstone covered with trencadis (a Catalan type of mosaic), similar to the mosaics he used in the Parc Guell.

Casa Milà, or as La Pedrera

We then walked on toward the Casa Milà, also called La Pedrera, resplendent with wavy walls and chimneys like mitered hats.

While in Barcelona we visited the Montjuic botanical gardens on Montjuïc hill near the center of Barcelona. From our Hostal, we took the subway to Montjuic and walked to the gardens and the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion. Unfortunately, this was closed the day we were there for filming (they didn’t tell us what - a commercial? A new movie? In any case, we didn’t get to see the inside.)

Botanical gardens

The Anella Olímpica (Olympic Ring) consists of sports facilities built for the 1992 Olympics, with the Olympic Stadium at the center.

The Parc de Joan Miró was named after the local artist whose 22 m high sculpture is known as ‘Dona i Ocell’ or Woman and Bird. Below Tristan is leaning on another of Miro’s sculptures.

A wire sculpture.

Looking down onto Siurana

The old village of Siurana, in Catalunya, consisted mainly of old castle ruins, and old Refugio which formerly allowed climbers to stay; and a small central core of town. The campground was fairly self-sufficient, with laundry facilities and a restaurant on site.

Most climbers stayed at the campground and walked daily to their choice of cliff - abundant cliffs surround the town on almost all sides. We climbed here whenever we could, and drove toward Montsant to hike in the Natural Park on  rest days.

Looking toward the old Refugio from near the campground

Sagrada Familia, by Gaudi

in Barcelona

Our campsite in Siurana

We moved form the La Mussara campground to a new campsite at Siurana. Our views weren’t as spectacular as they had been, but we found a nice flat spot that could accommodate our rental car at one end, a small table and chairs, and our tent nestled among the trees at the other end. The campground had some of the best showers I saw in Spain; better than they had been in our hotel in Barcelona.

The woman running the campground also cooked meals, served at the restaurant on site. One night a week she made Paella for everyone. We tried this, but I wasn’t impressed – it was extremely greasy, clearly having been subjected to an overabundance of the local olive oil.

In addition to campsites, she also rented out several small cabins. We met a Finnish couple who drove to Spain, from Finland, and who were staying in the cabins. We also met a couple from New Zealand who were on an extended climbing trip, starting in Britain and now in Spain.

From our campsite, we could walk to the climbs at various cliffs surrounding Siurana.
We felt that Siurana had the following advantages:
Walk to the cliff
Close to shops in Cornudella
Nice showers
Close to Montsant Park and great hikes

And the following disadvantages:
Noisier (more people, barking dogs)
Dusty
Animals steal food (dogs), because we can’t leave it inside

La Mussara advantages:
Beautiful, clean tent site on pine needles
Picnic tables outside for cooking and eating
Keep food inside the Refugio – cool and safe
Quiet and private
Better shopping at Reus
Lots of easy and moderate climbs

Cons:
Colder, especially at night
Drive to climbs
No toilet paper or soap provided
Showers not always open or with hot water

Overall:
La Mussara has better camping and easier climbs
Siurana has easier access to (harder) climbs and better hiking opportunities.

Hiking near Montsant

Tristan leading

When we climbed at Lo Soterrani, one of the cliffs at La Mussara, we met Jordy and Heidi climbing there. Both are surgeons; Heidi is American and Jordy grew up in nearby Tarragona with British parents. They were taking six months off between surgery positions. Their last one had been in Maine, which proved much colder than expected, and their next posting would be to Phoenix, In between, they were staying with Jordy’s parents in Tarragona (about an hour away) and climbing as much as possible.

Since in their six-month’s vacation, they could climb anywhere they wanted, and had still chosen to come to La Mussara, that reinforced my impression that we’d ended up in a pretty cool location.

At Lo Soterrani, Tristan led the climb shown, which I was able to follow until the roof, at which point I fell a few times and struggled to surmount the overhanging section. Luckily several the cliff sorted several easier routes within a few 100 feet, one called Diedre de Pi and another called Elegocentric. A diedre is a corner in French, so perhaps these terms are Catalan, not Spanish. We both wondered if by “pi” they meant the mathematical term.

Getting there: We flew to Barcelona, stayed at the Hostal Centric and rented a cheap car from Pepe car. We drove from Barcelona toward Reus (inland from Tarragona, in Catalonia) and then uphill to the Sierra des Prades.

Where to stay: Camp at the campground outside the Refugio, or stay in the Refugio in a shared room with bunk beds (a mountain or climber’s hostel)

Best time of year: We came here in April on our first trip and experienced lots of rain and cold weather. Our second trip, from May 25 to June 21 had perfect weather. The climbs are at about 1,000 meters in altitude, so definitely colder than coastal Spain.

Where to eat: The couple who were hut keepers also cook meals for both guests lodging there and for hikers passing through. One of the local specialties are called “tortillas”, but they resemble an omelet. They’re made with eggs, potatoes, cheese, onions, and vegetables. They’re round, plate- sized, and over a half inch thick. We loved these. They also serve various ham dishes that I didn’t try.

Guidebooks: We bought ours from RockFax.

Ruins of an old castle above Lake Siurana

We hadn’t initially planned on climbing at Siurana, best known for its collection of the planet’s toughest routes. Alex Huber climbed the initial section of La Rambla in 1993 and in 2003, the Spaniard  Ramon Julian climbed a continuation, La Rambla Direct, rated 5.15a.

Recently, Chris Sharma climbed an even harder route in Siurana, ‘Golpe De Estado’ (5.15b?).

Old Refugio on cliff and terraced gardens

While it’s fun to look at the world’s hardest climbs, which only two or three people in the world have ever climbed (or  only one), most people want to climb on their vacations, not just look at a route that one person has done.

Siurana’s well-kept secret is several moderate cliffs, within easy walking distance of the campground, which are accessible to mere mortals. The trail to the Village Crags starts near the ruins of an old castle. You can park near the castle if driving to Siurana or walk to the crags from the nearby new campground. Climbers used to stay at the Refugio shown in the picture, but when we arrived it was closed and a large campground opened a short walk from the trail.

Town of Siurana

We walked to Sector Can Margues Lower, part of the “Village Crags”, where we climbed an assortment of easier routes on excellent less-than-vertical limestone with well-spaced newer bolts. From here, we walked to Sectors Can Gan Dionis and Can Facil where I found some very pleasant routes (in the 5.9 – 5.10 range) that I lead with no problems and Tristan lead some harder climbs.

While Siurana’s reputation may scare off less experienced climbers, I hope that in this blog I can put those doubts to rest. Europeans have learned that Spain provides a great vacation destination, with its dry sunny climate, charming villages, and extensive natural park systems, but many Americans don’t look past the reports of the latest 5.15 put up by the current world’s hot climber.