Road to Barcelona, March 24-Peniscola and Subirats

We were heading for Barcelona our last destination on the tour.  But we had a couple of interesting stops along the way.

Our first stop was Peniscola.

This is a sometimes called the Gilbraltar of Spain.

It is fortified seaport on a peninsula with a lighthouse and a castle, built by the Knights Templar from 1294 to 1307, later lived in by Pope Benedict of Avignon, and restored in 1960 for the movie, El Cid.

We climbed up but didn't go all the way to the top, deciding on a cafe con leche instead part way. 

but we still had a nice view!

Later we went down and looked at the boats.

Back on the bus… Lunch was just a roadside cafeteria but our next stop was memorable

We visited the Castleroig winery at the Sabate i Coca estate  owned and run by the third and fourth generation of the Sabate family.

Here Cava is produced, really a sparkling wine that can't be called Champagne as not produced in the Champagne area of France.

Wineries are always lovely it seems.

And this one was no exception.

We were taken downstairs into an interesting museum with collections from keys to

glassware

and then we learned more above cava

and the process of producing it

It was very interesting but

I was feeling a bit claustrophobic and chilly!

I was happy to get back upstairs...

and enjoy the sunshine and do a bit of sampling!

You can see the many awards that the winery has won...

We had a demonstration of how to really drink cava by the owner, himself.

We enjoyed the sampling and we decided to buy a bottle to bring to our hosts in Mallorca