Barcelona — like much of Catalonia and Spain — is a great place to live and explore. There is so much wonderful architecture, nature, food, and other good stuff, it can be a real embarrassment of riches. However, that great stuff does attract a lot of tourists, and the most popular locations can be crazy busy. Park Guell, Montserrat, Tibidabo, the beaches, the old city center of Barcelona are all wonderful, but they can get a little overwhelming.

Which is why it is so much fun to discover wonderful locations that are not on the usual tourist map. Yesterday I made a trip out to the medieval Catalan village of Rupit, and really enjoyed it. High recommend, if you are coming to Spain and are looking for places to go.

Rupit is located in a hidden river valley about 100 km north of Barcelona, not far from Vic, another lovely town in Catalonia. It has roots over 1,000 years old, was built up more in the 12th century, but most of the buildings there now are from the 17th century. The buildings are all stone, like something out of Lord of the Rings. The river is gorgeous, and there are plenty of great walks in the area.

The food is pretty much all Catalan (lots of Catalan Butifara sausages), but quite good, and most of the restaurants have amazing views of the river and gorge. This is a pic of the restaurant where I had lunch, from the other side of the river.