풀레다‬에서 가장 멋진 ‪4‬개의 천연기념물

The Ermita de Sant Joan is located on a mountain above Mont Blanc. It is partly dilapidated and partly in very good condition and is obviously still in use. The Ermita also has a mirador with a wonderful view of the valley towards Mont Blanc.

The caves of l'Espluga de Francolí are a set of natural cavities formed in the conglomerate rock. Speleological explorations began in 1956, and so far 3,600 meters of galleries have been explored, making them one of the longest caves in the world. The archaeological findings inside show that they have been occupied since the Paleolithic: the last discovery, in 2019, was a Paleolithic sanctuary made up of more than 300 engravings, some of them more than 36,000 years old. The visits are guided and can be booked from https://covesdelespluga.info/

The hermitage of Sant Joan de la Muntanya is a medieval building located in the municipality of Montblanc, in the Montañas de Prades massif. Its location also makes it a beautiful natural viewpoint of the Conca de Barberà region.

The hermitage of Sant Joan de la Muntanya is a natural viewpoint from where you can see the town of Montblanc and the Conca de Barberà

The tozal Gros de Vallbona is located at 804 meters above sea level. It is the highest summit of the Urgell and offers magnificent views of the Conca de Barberà.

We are at an altitude of 820 m in a bed of calcareous rocks where, at the contact between the red sandstones and the travertine, water infiltrates, giving rise to a line of springs, hence the name of the Cent Fonts. We find several ponds, built by the Espluga de Francolí Town Council, in order to increase faunal biodiversity and create an aquatic habitat. In this way, we can see various amphibians such as toads and salamanders. There is also a picnic area further down with stone tables and benches. In 1887, Sister Mercè Farré Oró, the superior nun of the convent of the Daughters of Charity of l'Espluga de Francolí, promoted the channeling of the water from Les Cent Fonts to the town.

It is known that the Poblet forest is rich in springs. Undoubtedly the most well-known and popular are the Boixets fountain and the Deport fountain. The Sport source is located under the Cingle de les Cabres. From this location, the trail leads up to the La Pena viewpoint. The place has a lot of charm and in the past the monks had some kind of construction there (remember that the place is very close to the site of the old La Pena farm and currently a forestry house). These constructions were maintained after the exclaustration of the Poblet monastery, when the Pena estate was sold to private individuals and also later (in 1906) when it was expropriated to be reincorporated into the management of the forestry services. Currently, however, we can only find small evidence of those constructions. The location of the Deport fountain has also had other changes or modifications over the years, and one of these was the location of the fountain itself.

The hermitage of Sant Joan de la Muntanya is one of the most picturesque places in the region and offers views, from its viewpoint, of the Conca de Barberà and the Serra Carbonària and, on days of good visibility, Montserrat and the Pyrenees. In the hermitage, there is a bell at the entrance and to the right is the chapel of Sant Joan Baptista, excavated in the rock. A fireplace and a kitchen have also been rebuilt to shelter the mountaineers. If you go up to the top of the building, you will reach a small square with some commemorative pieces from various Montblanc organizations and, on the right, you will find the Mirador de Sant Joan, with a book of signatures and the Catalan flag, which is changed only for Christmas and Saint John. The viewpoint is a red saldón rock, which at the same time acts as the wall and roof of the hermitage. At the viewpoint there is a tile altarpiece that indicates which towns and mountain ranges can be seen: Montblanc, Barberà de la Conca, Forès, Solivella, Serra del Tallat, Miramar, Montserrat, Andorra, El Canigó, the Massif de la Maladeta with Aneto, etc. If you follow the ridge next to the viewpoint, you will reach the Cova de Nialó. After the Spanish Civil War ended, a group of young people fixed the rooms and covered the roof. But the absence of hermits and the location in the middle of the forest caused the hermitage to deteriorate to the point that, in the early 1990s, it was completely in ruins. It was then that Joan Serafí Serra i Ollé and the brothers Joan and Josep Jàvega i Bulló created the Estrams group (genesis of the Hermits of Sant Joan de la Muntanya), In 1993, the Estrams group was the catalyst for the desire to recover the hermitage and the Ermitans de Sant Joan de la Muntanya group was formed. This group, made up of around thirty members, went up to the hermitage once a week to have breakfast together and work on different tasks, inside and outside the hermitage. His task meant fixing it almost completely, rebuilding the fountain, placing a copy of the Damian Forment altarpiece, etc. After almost 70 years, the hermitage celebrated the Eucharist again.