Le Meridien Ra Beach Hotel & Spa

In 1910, Pau Casals had the Vil·la Casals built along the seaside promenade of Sant Salvador, El Vendrell. The villa, which was originally conceived as a summer house, was reformed by the architect Antoni Puig i Gairalt between 1931 and 1936, together with the Music Room, the garden and the belvedere. Pau Casals lived here until 1939, when he was forced to go into exile, never to return again.

Jané Ventura is a familiar vineyard and wine celler since 1914. Located at Baix Penedés DO, Mr. Jospe Jané started this familiar tradition with his grandfather Benjamé Jané Ventura.

The castle was built in the 11th century as one of the border castles located in the dangerous zone between the Frankish empire and Al-Andalus. Even though we know that the hill dominated by Santa Creu castle was occupied in Iberian and Roman times, the first evidence of a building in the area is this fortification, built at the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century. The building has its origins in a group of country people settling here with cabins made of clay and trunks, several common services (a tank or a number of silos) and a primitive church made of wood and mud. During the Reconquest, the country people came down off the hill and began to establish the historical town of Calafell, while the castle was passed on to different noble families. One of these families, the Palou, built a small Gothic palace on the site. The castle was still somewhat strategically important until the 16th century, when it began to fall into decline; as a result, it was even used as a home for the poor. Subsequently, it was turned into a cemetery until a new castle was built in 1938. The original building includes a church on the same site, which houses Romanesque wall paintings. One of Calafell castle´s most unusual features is the comunidor, a small 17th century building open on all four sides, with a pyramid hip roof. From here, the priest recited sections from the Gospels and blessed the district. He also banished the bad spirits that brought storms and witches.

The purpose of the Roman Route is to introduce visitors to the history of Tarragona by means of the main monuments that survive from that era, when the city was at the peak of its splendour. On 30 November 2000, UNESCO declared the ancient Roman archaeological complex of Tarraco as a World Heritage Site.

When Family Roca planted the first vines in the 80's, they chose a unique place for its “terroir”, just 3km from the Mediterranean Sea. That place was the Pla de Mar, where currently our vineyards enjoy a very special microclimate within the DO Penedès, fruit of the constant sea breeze, that brings in warm air from the sea preventing different illnesses and leading to a quicker maturing of the grapes. A vineyard with a long history, having in mind the remains of what was once the Via Augusta, the Roman road that connected Rome with the most important cities of the Mediterranean.That's why we wanted to pay tribute to this singular Roman road, giving our winery and our wines, the name of Avgvstvs.

In 1903, during filoxera crisisa, Joan Albet i Rovirosa arrived to Penedès region and started working in Can Vendrell vineyards, from la Codina, en Sant Pau de Ordal. During four generations the Albet family has taken care of the yards and cultivate, pamper and watch the vines grow that are now the protagonists of their wines.

On the banks of the river Gaià, we find the monastery of Santes Creus, which was the center of one of the most extensive and influential monastic domains in the Kingdom of Aragon. With a solid, serious and austere architecture, the abbey reflects the canonical model of the Cistercian monasteries (along with Vallbona de les Monges and Poblet). Visiting Santes Creus is reliving a time when the purity and distance from the world of people took shape in a place deeply rooted in the land. Founded in 1160, the high point of Santes Creus was between the 13th and 14th centuries, due to its close relationship with the nobility and the royal family. The kings, Peter the Great and James II the Just, and his wife, Blanca of Anjou, were patrons of the monastery and chose to be buried here, in two Gothic mausoleums next to the high altar. The study and restoration of the royal tombs in 2010 allowed the remains of Peter the Great and White of Anjou, the only remains of the Kings and Queens of the Crown of Aragon, to be discovered intact. The basic plan of the monastery organized the spaces according to the needs of the community. The church, which was opened for worship in 1225, is an example of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic. Despite providing a feeling of lightness and grandeur, it is a solid and austere temple. It contrasts with the splendor of the cloister, which dates from the 14th century, the first Gothic style of the Crown of Aragon.

Just one hour away by car from Le Méridien Ra, Barcelona is the most emblematic city with its modernist architecture and arts, shopping and urban athmosphere.