Tarraco´s blessed mountains

The Tarragona province has a number of exceptional mountain ranges such as the massifs of Montsant and els Ports which are natural parks. The Poblet woodland, part of the mountains of Prades, is also a protected area with the status of natural area of national interest.

The Montsant natural park (see top picture) lies in the north of the Priorat comarca and is the natural park closest to those holidaying on the Costa Dorada. The ´Holy Mountain´ (which is what Montsant means literally) has historically been a place of spirituality and transcendence, of hidden-away Romanesque chapels and hermitages and of course also home to the oldest Carthusian monastery - Scala Dei or ´God´s Stairway´ - south of the Pyrenees. Even the Muslims (who occupied this land for centuries) called it the ´blessed mountain´. The whole world knows about the Priorat and Montsant wines, some also know about the beauty of the vine-covered slate hills, but far fewer know about the stunningly imposing blocks of conglomerate rock, chasms, caves, gorges and grottoes of the 9,200 hectares of the Montsant natural park. Like els Ports, the Montsant mountain is difficult to access: no vehicles can get here.

The els Ports natural park is probably one of Spain´s wildest - and least-known - mountains, with its deep rugged ravines and its herds of wild mountain goats (which have barely survived anywhere else). Eagles, vultures and falcons are some of the other animal species seen in els Ports. This is a park of over 35,000 hectares, extending into Aragon and Valencia.

The Poblet woodland, on the northern slopes of the Prades mountains, is about a quarter of the size of the Montsant park. These woods (see picture below) were historically part of the property portfolio of the famous Poblet monastery, Spain´s most important Cistercian monastery. This is a dense, leafy wood at great altitude, a refuge of trees and species unusual for these latitudes so close to the Mediterranean, with lots of wildlife, including the wild boar and the peregrine falcon, and a growing network of hiking and biking trails.

It is said that on a clear day, at the summit of the 1,202 metre-high La Baltasana, one can see the els Ports mountains in the south and the Pyrenees in the north.

To allow us to discover these areas we should give credit to the first generation of hikers who have mapped often long-forgotten footpaths, cart tracks and trails of cattle herders, wood choppers and charcoal makers.

Landscapes

Nature, nature parks and landscapes are finally more and more appreciated now as a huge asset in this part of Catalonia. Still, the great writers, poets and photographers who have immortalized these natural treasures have not really caught the imagination yet of the outsider. What of the great stories and myths that inhabit these landscapes? You´ll look in vain in the official brochures. I don´t think anyone can deny that the hills and mountains of the Montsant range, the Prades mountains, the Poblet woodlands, the Gaià valley or the vine-clad terraces of the Priorat are the stuff of artists and writers. The legends of the sacred mountain of southern Catalonia (Montsant), the painters of the Terra Alta and the epic image of the canyons of the Els Ports natural park are waiting to be fully discovered by the foreign visitor.