Good day trip ideas west of Barcelona?
 

My family of 8 will be visiting the Buil & Giné winery on Monday, Sept 16 at 11am (in the Priorat/Montsant region). I am assuming we will be done around 1pm. We have the rental van until 8pm that evening. We were thinking of stopping in a town or two on the way back for lunch and some sight seeing. Does anyone have any suggestions of sites/towns we may enjoy? Or a good place for lunch? Or the most scenic route to return? A friend had recommended Sitges, but I was interested in other places to consider. We are all between the ages of 30-56 and in good shape. We enjoy good food, good wine, and seeing quaint Spanish sites/culture/scenery. We are not interested in visiting any museums or doing a whole afternoon at the beach....though a beach town with other sites to consider would be fine. I would love any suggestions you fellow travel junkies may have. Thanks in advance!

Well a few hours only won't be enough, but I'd suggest Tarragona--lovely. Roman sites like an amphitheater on the Mediterranean coast. Medieval lanes and walls. Best chocolate truffles ever. Its own rambla. Guess you don't want to double book rooms/consider staying overnight in Tarragona? Then could finish seeing it and drive up the coast (if I've understood correctly where the wine thing is), even stopping in Sitges, on way back to Barecelona Tuesday. Just a thought. But we loved Tarragona.

Reus is a fabulous town - it is smaller than Tarragona, but has a lovely center with incredible architecture. Reus is the town in which Gaudi was born, and they have a wonderful museum dedicated to his work. Here is some information on the city: http://www.spain.info/en_US/reportaj..._de_gaudi.html
Have a great trip!

The Priorat and that whole Ebro regaion is a really nice and scenic. You could easily spend a week there and not see and do everything.

If you want to see a cute village on your way back from Gratallops, you could stop in Prades. After few more kms, you will get to Poblet monastery - UNESCO world heritage and really worth a visit.
http://www.poblet.cat/

If you want to venture further into the Ebro valley, Miravet castle (from the Templars) and Corbera d'Ebre (the old Corbera on the hill has been left as an open air memorial, bombed and half blown up as it was). In the whole region you will have Civil War monuments - also preserved trenches in the middle of nowhere where you can roam around (usually all on your own).
http://www.batallaebre.org/english/espais.php

Eventually you would end in Tortosa, the "capital" of Southern Tarragona province - no tourists altogether. This trip will take much longer than the other option(s), and it depends on how much you will have to play with eventually.

If Tortosa will be a bit too much, you can cut it short from Miravet via Rasquera to El Perello to hit AP-7 back to BCN again. Disregard this if you have a big van - the ferry from Miravet to Rasquera across the Ebro is not for the faint of heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZQ81y14-uc

While the following would be nonsense in cosmopolitan Barcelona, rural Southern Catalunya is quite "independent" (and more or less mono-lingual Catalan).. you should not compliment them on their "Spanish" cuisine or culture... when you drive around there, you will see quite often the multi-lingual "Welcome" signs - with the Spanish/Castilian version sprayed over..

Thanks so much for the quick responses! TexasBookWorm, I have been looking at Tarragona and I really love the idea of seeing the Roman Ruins there. I also love the idea of seeing the Poblet Monastery, cowboy 1968. I am considering updating our itinerary for the day as follows:

- Leave Barcelona at 8am
- Arrive at Poblet Monastary a little before 10am and explore till 11am
-Drive to winery for 12:00pm tour (will change tour time)
-Tour winery from 12:00-1:30pm.
-Drive through Reus to Tarragona (stopping at the aqueduct), arriving in Tarragona around 3:30pm
- Explore Tarragona from 3:30pm-7pm. (seeing the Roman Circus, amphitheatre, and cathedral.)
-Drive back to Barcelona, arriving by 8pm

The pace of this itinerary is very fast, I understand. Is there anything we should eliminate based on time?? Or does this sound okay?

That really doesn't leave much time, even if it all works perfectly, for Tarragona. I'd just try to see the amphitheater and have a walk around the city. The cathedral is..ok. Circus is not that traceable. The Walls are worth getting to; I enjoyed them more than the cathedral itself.

I think sunset isn't until about 8--maybe you could just stay in Tarragona as late as you can; the streets and lanes don't close so no time constraints.

The aqueduct is terrific--I haven't been to other more famous/bigger ones, so this was a real star attraction for me. We spent about an hour there, probably--we take lots of photos, had a beautiful day, and walked all the way across it. It could be a shorter stop if necessary.

Do hope you can manage some time in Tarragona. I don't have great restaurant suggestions--the only one we ate dinner at was one DH remembered as great from a business trip but definitely disappointed us both last November and we wouldn't recommend it--or give it a horrible review, either. Just not naming it!

About the Roman circus--I was thinking of some other ruin there when I said above it was untraceable--the circus site is another interesting one with well done displays (in English, too) and walks among parts. I'd still pick the amphitheater and walls over it, however.