Honeymoon TR: Cardona & its castle
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Okay, the brief divergence from our honeymoon TR’s to post our wedding pictures and our latest skiing TR is over 🙂 After our time in the Spanish Pyrenees and Andorra, we headed to Cardona, a small town in the middle of Catalunya. Why were we going there? To stay in a castle, of course 🙂 I mean, it IS our honeymoon after all. Why NOT stay in a castle?!
Cardona is a town that was founded centuries ago, largely due to a deposit of salt in the area. The corresponding castle was built largely at first to protect and monitor the salt mine. The castle was modified and rebuilt several times through the centuries but was eventually basically abandoned as the need for a fortress became obsolete. Eventually, the castle became part of the Spanish Parador system- this a group of high-end hotels that are built in historical buildings in Spain. Cardona Castle opened as a parador in 1976.
The salt mine, still in use today.
The interior and exterior of the castle were dotted with plaques talking about various aspects of the castle, such as this one detailing the overall history.
The entrance of the hotel.
The exterior of the castle.
The “cafeteria” was more like a bar- a really sweet bar- located on the top of the castle with excellent views.
The castle walls had plenty of these slots meant for a bow and arrow. Notice how the slot is angled, so someone on the outside couldn’t shoot an arrow directly into the slot without it bounding off the wall.
The water tower, at the top of the castle.
The window to our room is on the upper right of this part of the building.
The interior was beautiful as well.
The lobby.
Our room, classic.
Other rooms.
The restaurant was in the dungeon. Despite all the plaques detailing how people were tortured in these quarters, we ate there anyway 😉
One of our dinner plates. This one was supposedly a local classic.
A view from our window.
The views from the castle were stunning; Pyrenees in the distance.
A view of the town of Cardona below the castle.
A Roman bridge that remains unfinished.
We enjoyed an evening in the town of Cardona.
They must be trying to tell us something about beer.
A view of the castle from town.
Only about 1 to 1.5 hours outside of Barcelona, Cardona is a great place to visit if you want to stay in a castle. Sure, it’s fairly expensive, but it’s not awful- and it is worth the splurge. We will forever enjoy telling people that we stayed in a castle for our honeymoon 🙂
Next up- Mont Serratt.
Find all the gear you need for traveling at
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Now, that’s a great piece of news. Your wedding, I mean. Congratulations Brittany and Frank!
It’s been quite a long time since I last visited regularly your blog. I must say I really enjoy all your entries and read them like an adventure book. Thanks to the large number of photos it seems like I visited with you some of the places myself. Thank you.
And there you are, on your honeymoon in the beautiful places of Europe. I’m really looking forward to your other accounts.
You’re such an amazing couple with the twist to make anything possibly “the extreme way”, off the bitten track.
I really envy you on the freedom of choices of the places you decide to visit anywhere you go.
Can you fill me in on the pun that lies behind the nickname “Skadita” you coined? I understand that it somehow ridicules it’s extremely powerful engine 😉 (well, I drive Skoda myself but a different model and 125hp seems enough for me but it’s certainly not ok for the american standards).
Once again, big thank you and congratulations! Turning over a new leaf although basically things seem to stay the same – keep it this way!
Welcome back Michal! And Thanks for the kind words!
As for the “Skadita”, you are correct to assume it was a pet name I coined in reference to its lack of power. 77hp, from what I found on the internet, which wasn’t quite enough for the roads in the Pyrenees. The word itself was a Spanish play on words: for instance a small taco is a taquito, or a small dog/puppy is a perrito (rather than perro for a full-size dog). So the Skadita was a tiny little Skoda. (I guess it should have been Skodita, but for some reason it became Skadita).
Frank, thanks for shedding light on the etymology of the blend “Skadita”. I don’t know Spanish but I assumed that it must be that.