Cardona - Sant Vicenç and Castle

This has been a fortified place already since pre-Roman times, as salt was mined in the valley since around 300BC. Most of the fortress, towering over the town of Cardona today, goes back to Wilfred the Hairy (aka Guifré el Pilós), who had a fort erected here in 886. Over centuries this was an invulnerable fortress and the Counts of Cardona reached high ranks in the iberian nobility, but at the end of the Spanish Sucession War it was besieged, seriously damaged by French troops in 1714.

Since 1976 this is a "parador", a state-run luxury hotel. It was just a bit over our budget. We would have liked to stay here. If you want to make a reservation, just follow this link:

paradores.es/en/parador-de-cardona

Seen to the left is the church of Sant Vicenç, erected 1020-1040, another great example of the Lombardic/Catalan architecture. To quote Marcel Durliat this is the "most important structure of the ’Premier art roman méridional’ in Catalonia".