In the Tarragona area of Spain, Siurana is an incredible village, perched on the top of a hill,…read morewith the campsite on it's edge.
It is an area of dramatic mountain scenery, hillside villages, vineyards, and groves of olive and almonds. Wine producing has been important here for centuries and there is a monastery, vineyard and wine cellar nearby at d'Escaladei, well worth a vist! Tours of the vineyards and olive oil co-operatives are a great way to sample the local produce.
There are many pretty hillside villages, La Bisbal de Falset, Ulldemolins and, perhaps most notably, Siurana. Built on a craggy mountainside and surrounded by spectacular rock formations, the village has become a haven for climbers and walkers. The Serra del Montsant national park provides some stunning hill walks, winding in and out of spires of jagged rocks and wierdly shaped conglomerate towers.
Lying on a base of sandstone, then limestone, the road to the village winds up through the most dramatic scenery in the valley, huge crags on either side. The village itself has a couple of pricey restaurants and a small exclusive hotel, not open out of season, and one or two more modest places to get snacks and a cold beer or icecream. Most people on a budget stay at the refuge, a very unusual building, built into the rock, looking out over the cliffs of Montsant.
The campsite is located within a short walk of the village, and is an excellent base to explore the area. It has quite basic facilities, but the location is out of this world. It is usually full of climbers, and this is the theme of the bar, which invariably has a climbing DVD showing, often featuring the proprietor, who is quite handy in the climbing world. The bar does reasonably priced food, basic (pizza, fries, steak, chips), but with big portions, very welcome after a day's excercise, and is a great place to chill out and have a beer.
It is a very sociable and friendly atmosphere, and the father and son who run the place have been based around the area for years, and are keen share information about the local area (and the climbing).
If you don't fancy being under canvas, there are some wooden huts available, one suitable for a larger group with it's own shower/bathroom/cooking area. The others share the campsite facilities. They are a little unusual (somewhat like camping in a garden shed), but have the advantage of warmth during the Spring months, where the nights get very cold.
There are also some very small rooms, really basic, and only worth considering if you are going in the coldest time of year, when camping would be unpleasant.
The views from the campsite are really stunnning, and you can walk out of the site and into the most amazing scenery.
Cornudella, in the valley has a few small shops for supplies, but Reus is the largest nearby place for a supermarket (Carrefour), approx an hours drive away. It's best to stock up after arriving at the airport and collecting the hire car (essential really for exploring the area, as public transport is not great, and the only way to get up to the village is by car, or a long steep walk up the road!)
The mountains of the Sierra de Prades are beautiful, and the are is very green and quite unspoiled compared to the rest of Spain, as the package tourists stick to the coastal resorts of the Costa Daurada when arriving from Reus, the nearest airport.
The best time of year to go is March-May, or September-October. This gives you the best chance of sunny, dry days, but avoids the heat of summer, where being outside in the full sun would be pretty unbearable. The winter months would require a very warm sleeping bag to get through the cold nights!!
check out
http://catalonia.ca/siurana/index.html
for some more information and pictures
