Poblet: Romanesque monastery

Backtracking though time to late March, this was a morning excursion with local friends to the monastery of Poblet in the hinterlands of Tarragona. Founded in 1151 by Ramón Berenguer IV, the kings of Aragón-Catalunya were buried in its chapel and also endowed it with sufficient funds for the monastery to become completely corrupt, spawning a tradition of stories about extremely lewd monks. An angry mob wrecked it in 1835. It was later restored and reinhabited by Cistercian monks in 1940. The cloisters with their beautiful fountain and carvings was a highlight, especially for Balana who wanted to swim in the water.

















The three towers are, from left to right, Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque