Cardona

Cardona's castle turns gold at sunset, but the real treasure lies beneath. For two thousand years, locals have hacked at the hillside, hauling out rock salt that once paid for dukes, wars and the thick stone walls that still crown the ridge above the Cardener valley.

The town sits 507 metres up, forty minutes beyond Barcelona's last ring road. After the motorway, the road narrows, twists and climbs through almond groves until the fortress appears, suddenly enormous, blocking the horizon like a ship run aground. Below it, stone houses pile up the slope; above, a creamy cliff of compacted salt gleams like bad dentistry.

The Duke’s Backyard

Entry to the castle is through a single Gothic arch wide enough for one cart. Inside, the parade ground is now a hotel car park – book early if you want to sleep where the Cardona family once kept 400 cavalry. Day visitors pay €6 for a guided circuit that includes the 11th-century Collegiate church, austerely Lombard outside, richly rib-vaulted within. Climb the tower for a hawk’s view: the Pyrenees on clear days, the salt hill to the left, irrigated fields sliding east towards Manresa.

Guides relish the detail that the dukes were so wealthy they lent money to the crown; when Madrid needed cash for the Armada, Cardona provided the salt that preserved the sailors’ beef. The last duke died without heirs in 1705; the Bourbon army then used the fortress as a prison for Carlist officers, and later Franco’s police kept political detainees in the same cells. The stone is silent, but the graffiti – dates, crosses, a crude Madonna – is still visible if the guide remembers to switch on the torch.

Down the Mine

The Salt Mountain Cultural Park sits five minutes’ drive south. Hard hats are obligatory; English notes are available only if you phone ahead. A small train rattles 86 m into the hillside where 360-million-year-old deposits shine pink, amber and chalk-white. The air tastes metallic; temperature stays fixed at 17 °C, welcome in July when outside thermometers flirt with 38 °C. Miners worked by candlelight until electric lamps arrived in 1923; wages were paid partly in salt, hence the Catalan saying “Val un Cardona” – “worth a Cardona” – for anything priceless.

Tours last 50 minutes and emerge at a terrace facing the cliff. From there a short path circles the hill, passing spoil heaps now colonised by rosemary and grey-leaved rockrose. Allow another thirty minutes if you want photographs without chain-link fence in the foreground; late afternoon light turns the spoil pink.

Between Walls

Back in town, the medieval grid is intact but lived-in. Retired men play cards under awnings on Carrer de la Creu; schoolchildren zig-zag home along lanes barely two metres wide. At Plaça de la Fira, Wednesday’s market sets out three stalls of local beans, cheap underwear and honey from Montserrat. Housewives compare tomatoes; tourists are still rare enough to be offered a slice of persimmon by the grower.

The Gothic church of Sant Miquel keeps odd hours – try 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. when the caretaker opens for the terreta bell-ringer. Inside, a single Baroque altar survived the 1936 fire; everything else is bare stone and echo. Opposite stands the old Hospital de Sant Roc, its Renaissance portal carved with a salt cellar and the Cardona motto “Ara i Sempre” – now and always. The building is now flats; push the door and you’ll smell washing powder rather than incense.

What to Eat, Where to Sleep

Restaurants cluster along Carrer de la Plaça. Can Xarau serves rabbit with snails in season; if the idea of chewing gastropod puts you off, order the lighter coca de recapte, a rectangular bread topped with roasted aubergine and butifarra sausage. House wine comes from the Pla de Bages DO – drinkable, inexpensive, better cool. Budget €25 for a two-course lunch including dessert; dinner menus start at €32.

Evening options are limited. One tapas bar stays open until midnight; everything else shuts by ten. If you need nightlife, Manresa is 25 minutes away.

Accommodation divides between the castle’s three-star Parador (doubles €140–€180, breakfast €18) and two small guesthouses in the village. Hostal Cardona, on the main street, charges €55 for a room with balcony but no lift; ask for the back side if church bells disturb your sleep.

Walking It Off

Three way-marked trails leave from the upper town. The easiest (2 km, 45 min) loops the salt hill and suits families. Stiffer is the PR-C 124 that climbs 350 m to the ruined watchtower of Castellvell; allow two hours and carry water – the only shade is a single oak halfway up. Spring brings purple orchids and the smell of thyme; after rain the clay sticks to boots and makes the descent slippery.

Winter is quiet, sometimes foggy, but rarely cold enough for ice. Summer brings heat, coach parties and higher hotel prices. April–June and September–early November offer clear skies, wildflowers or autumn crocus, and hoteliers willing to bargain.

Getting There, Getting Out

No train reaches Cardona. From Barcelona, drive the C-58 towards Manresa, then follow the C-55 exit signposted Cardona; the last 12 km are winding but scenic. Buses leave Barcelona’s Estació del Nord daily at 3 p.m., returning at 7 a.m.; the timetable suits overnight visitors only. A car also lets you combine Cardona with Montserrat (50 min south-east) or Solsona’s cathedral (35 min north).

Parking outside the castle is free for four hours; after that the Parador charges €15 a day. The old town is steep – sensible shoes, not sandals.

Worth the Detour?

Cardona will never compete with Girona’s restaurants or Cadaqués sea views. It offers instead a coherent story: geology shaped the hill, salt paid for the castle, the castle protected the town, the town still lives inside its walls. Come for half a day and you’ll tick two hefty monuments; stay overnight and you’ll hear the bells float across the valley at dusk, watch spotlights pick out battlements, and understand why, long after the mines closed, people still say “Val un Cardona.”