ASIANOVERLAND.NET LONDON TO SYDNEY DAY 263: COSTA DEL SOL TO MONTSERRAT, SPAIN

After the War of the Spanish Succession, the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Castilian Crown was the first step in the creation of the Spanish nation state, not on a uniform ethnic basis, but by imposing the political and cultural characteristics of the capital, Madrid and Central Spain, on other areas whose inhabitants became national minorities. Nationalist policies have been the seed of repeated territorial conflicts within the Spanish state, especially in Catalonia and Basque.

Penedès is a Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) for wines in Catalonia. Penedès DOP includes all of the Penedès region and municipalities of four other counties: Anoia, Alt Camp, Baix Llobregat and Tarragonès. The area extends from the coastal hills of the Garraf Massif to the higher inland mountains which skirt the Central Depression.

Long considered one of Spain's best wine-producing regions after the Rioja, it is also one of the most ancient viticultural areas in Europe. Best known for its Cava production (sparkling wine which has had its own Denominación de Origen since 1986) white grape varieties predominate, although the region also produces oak-aged reds.

According to archaeological evidence (some on display in Vilafranca's Wine Museum), wine production in the Penedès has ancient origins since the Phoenician introduction of vines during the 6th century BC. A large export market continued even through Moorish occupation in the Middle Ages. Eighteenth century Spanish expansion into South America generated an unprecedented demand for Penedès wines.

"Montserrat" literally means "serrated (like a handsaw) mountain" in Catalan and describes many rock formations that are visible from a great distance. The Montserrat mountain is composed of pink conglomerate, a form of sedimentary rock.

The Monastery of Montserrat which houses the virgin that gives its name to the monastery is on the mountain. The Benedictine Abbey can be reached by road, by the Aeri de Montserrat cable car, or by the Montserrat Rack Railway. The lower stations of both the railway and the cable car can be reached by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya train from Barcelona's Plaça d'Espanya station. From the abbey, the Funicular de Sant Joan funicular railway goes to the top of the mountain, where there are various abandoned hovels in the cliff faces that were previously the abodes of reclusive monks.

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