My frequently professed affinity for sacred architecture did not translate into surpassing appreciation of Poblet Monastery. I saw an impressive enough complex which I could not call extraordinary. The historical context of the monastery's importance stayed beyond me. This was largely a function of the constraints of the visit. You can freely wander around the territory inside the outer walls of the monastery, but getting inside the main part of the complex is possible only roughly once an hour in the company of a guide. The tour is conducted in either Spanish or Catalan. If you indicate at the reception that you do not speak either language, you get a small booklet with explanations instead. Then, during the tour, you are allowed to explore on your own and not follow the guided group. Sounds like a pretty good deal for someone who dislikes crowds until you realize that the booklet throws historical facts at you and mentions key features of every space you see without tying it into a coherent picture. I am left wondering whether an ability to understand the tour guide would be key to get more value out of the visit.

That being said, there are certainly some interesting features at Poblet Monastery that can be observed without any guidance. The most obvious of them is the façade of the main church, with a cluster of decorations on an otherwise blank wide wall. The façade opens onto Plaça Major, the wide main square of the complex which is accessible at no charge. Technically, you are inside the monastery when you are here. But the real visit starts only once you step through the gates of the innermost enclosure, which contains the church, the cloisters, and the monastic rooms.

The cloisters, in my view, are not as impressive as the ones of the Tarragona cathedral, which I happened to visit earlier the same day. Plus, you are not allowed to step onto the central garden. But there is some intricate stonework and plasterwork all around. In the main church, the most memorable feature are elevated marble royal tombs. Beyond the church, your tour takes you through a number of spaces, some more impressive than others. The library appears – as is often the case – one of the most striking rooms in the complex, but you can only look at it through a glass door. There is some marvellous ironwork as well throughout the complex. You also step out onto an upper terrace and get a different perspective of the monastery towers.

The tour of the monastery lasts about 45 minutes. Poblet is about an hour and a half drive from Barcelona, or 40 minutes from Tarragona. If you time your arrival to quarter of an hour before the next scheduled tour, you may be able to see all there is to see in about an hour. Two hours is the most you’ll need for the visit, so it is definitely possible to combine Poblet with a day-trip to Tarragona from Barcelona.