Out of the city - The Rough Guide to Barcelona - page 224

just about stretches to a day-trip, and it's not a bad ride in any case - after Sarrià, the train
emerges from the city tunnels and chugs down the wooded valley into Sant Cugat.
Sant Cugat del Vallès
Reial Monestir Mon-Sat 8am-noon & 4-9pm, Sun open for Mass from 9am • Free • Museu de Sant Cugat
Jardins del Monestir • Tues-Sat 10.30am-1.30pm & 4-7pm (June-Sept until 8pm), Sun & hols 10am-2.30pm
• €3.50, under-16s free • 936 759 951, www.museu.santcugat.cat
At Sant Cugat del Vallès , the Benedictine Reial Monestir (Royal Monastery) was founded
as far back as the ninth century, though most of the surviving buildings date from three or
four hundred years later. Its fawn stone facade and triple-decker bell tower make a lovely
sight as you approach from the square outside, through the gate, past the renovated Bish-
op's Palace and under a splendid rose window. Finest of all, though, is the beautiful twelfth-
century Romanesque cloister , with noteworthy capital carvings of mythical beasts and bib-
lical scenes. They have an unusual homogeneity, since they were all completed by a single
sculptor, Arnau Gatell.
The main church is free to visit, but entrance to the cloister is to the side of the church, and
forms part of the MuseudeSantCugat , which also includes the restored dormitory, kitchen
and refectory of the monastery, along with exhibitions about its history and monastic life.
What were once the monastery's kitchen gardens lie across from the Bishop's Palace, though
the formerly lush plots that sustained the brothers are now mere dusty gardens, albeit with
viewsoverthelowwallstoTibidaboandtheCollserolahills.PlaçaOctavia,outsidethemon-
astery, has a weekly market every Thursday.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: SANT CUGAT
By train FGC trains from Barcelona (S1 line from Pl. de Catalunya; fgc.cat ) depart every
10-15min. In Sant Cugat, walk straight ahead out of the train station and down the pedes-
trianized c/Valldoreix, taking the first right and then the first left (it's still c/Valldoreix), and
thenkeepstraightalongtheshoppingstreet(c/SantaMariaandthenc/SantiagoRusiñol)until
you see the monastery belltower (10min walk).
INFORMATION
Oficina de Turisme Sant Cugat del Vallès, Pl. Octavia 10, inside the main doorway of the
monastery (June-Sept Tues-Fri 10.30am-1.30pm & 5.30-7pm, Sat 10am-2pm & 5-8pm,
Sun & hols 10am-2pm; Oct-May Tues-Fri 10.30am-1.15pm & 4.15-5.45pm, Sat
10am-2pm & 4-6pm, Sun & hols 10am-2pm; 936 759 952, turisme.santcugat.cat ).
Terrassa
Terrassa , a large city with a population of 200,000 about 20km out of Barcelona, was an
important textile producer in the nineteenth century, and retains many fine modernista -style
factories, mills and warehouses that now enjoy protected status. But Terrassa has a much
longerhistorytoboastabout,andontheedgeofthecitycentre,builtonthesiteoftheformer