Autumn is a perfect season for bohemian people. Most of us live in big cities surrounded by cement and asphalt. If we don’t go out from the cities we don’t realise about the season changes as others do in the countryside. For this reason nature has become a value for the modern society. As you know we live in Barcelona, one of the densest cities in Europe where parks and gardens are not so often as we would like. We need to connect with nature sometimes and we did it this week by going by car to one of our favourite places for having a walk and a great lunch with magnificent views. Do you want to discover this place just one hour and fifteen minutes from Barcelona?

We left Barcelona early in the morning with the idea to collect some mushrooms. Going to the Pyrenees is always a good idea, and one of our favourite routes is the one that follows the C17 road. This road passes through different places with a huge history, like Vic or Ripoll. If you ever travel to Catalonia don’t forget to visit these two medieval towns. After Ripoll we reached Campdevànol, a small village where a narrow road begins and leads to Gombrèn at the feet of Montgrony mountain.

Once in Gombrèn we took a secret and narrow path. It is secret because a good mushroom hunter will never tell you where he finds them! Hunting mushrooms is a tradition among catalans. In winter we ski, in spring we walk through the sea coast, in summer we go to the beach and in autumn we hunt mushrooms.

Unfortunately this is not a good year for mushrooms. It has not rained enough, and it has been too windy in the last weeks. The forest is dry. However, we found the king of the mushrooms! The rovelló!

We also found a dead cow but we were not interested in collecting it… After 2 hours collecting mushrooms we were hungry and went to the Montgrony restaurant. It is located more than 1,400 metres high, on the edge of a rock cliff with great views of the Pyrenees. Here you can have typical Catalan food at a good price with incredible views.

Good wine, good food, good views, fresh air… a perfect day out of the city. We ate so much that we needed to walk a little bit before driving back home. And there, from the restaurant, there are stairs that climb the cliff.

Stairway to heaven. Possibly true because while climbing the stairs you find a first minichapel stuck in the rock, called Santa Maria de Montgrony. But if you continue to the top you’ll see a beautiful romanesque church, Sant Pere de Montgrony. You can see it in the first photo of this post. From there you can do many walks through the forests and mountains if you want.

It is important to point out that you can also spend a night in Montgrony. Click here to see Tripadvisor reviews. And one more point: you won’t find any foreign tourists. Only Catalans know this place. Sssssh. It is a secret!