Easy hikes and walks in Parc D'Olèrdola

From the Canyellas road it is a two kilometer climb to the castle.

Plan that is there when you leave the Castle of Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola and go in the direction of Puig de l'Águila. Beautiful views of the surrounding slopes!

This is the path that will take us to the Castillo de Sant Miquel and that gives us good views of the plain of Vilafranca del Penedès.

Castle at the top of Olèrdola Park. This is one of the 12 natural spaces that try to be protected and at the same time that people can pass through giving life to the area. The old castle is an example, and passing by and seeing its walls is always beautiful!

Dry stone hut inventoried with the code: 92 (Source: Wikipedra) Isolated aerial construction with a circular plan and false dome. Flat blown stone eaves on the roof. Note the large side stones of the entrance door. Shack affected by the works on the C-15. October 2011: it is dismantled from its original location (X393452E / Y4574963N) and rebuilt next to the Castell d'Olèrdola car park.

Necropolis located on the elongated hill located in front of the Olerdolana wall. It is known as Pla dels Albats (relatively modern place name). This name comes from the numerous small and medium-sized tombs corresponding to infants and alabtas (babies who died before receiving the sacraments or having the use of reason) found in the necropolis of anthropomorphic tombs. More than a hundred tombs have been located. The graves are excavated in the rock, they are rectangular in plan, with the head separated from the rest of the body and narrower at the feet. Most feature a socket in the rock itself for the cap. The graves follow the east-west orientation. In the middle of the necropolis are the ruins of a building that has been identified as the remains of the chapel of Santa Maria. Part of the north wall is preserved, with a height close to 3 meters and the west wall, modernly altered. The chapel of Santa Maria and the necropolis must be associated with the population, more or less dispersed, located outside the walls in medieval times. They were already in operation at the beginning of the 10th century. Observations: Archaeological research is very incipient in this sector, its evolution will confirm the exact functionality of the building described, its chronology and the relationship with the remains of another building that can be guessed in the middle of the necropolis.

The history of the place tells of the settlement of several tribes during the Bronze Age (2000-1800 BC), the construction of a primitive wall during the Iron Age (8th-7th centuries BC) and the arrival of the Cossetans (5th-4th centuries BC), an Iberian tribe that built an entire town there, later replaced by a Roman military camp that controlled the Via Augusta. At the time of the Christian conquest (929), Count Sunyer I built the first castle on the ruins of a Roman watchtower, as well as the church of Sant Miquel. The Muslim incursions of the 10th century seriously damaged the place, which had to be rebuilt during the following two centuries, after it belonged to Mir Geribert, self-proclaimed prince of Olèrdola. The visit to the complex is worth taking it easy and dedicating at least an hour to it. Before you go, you should consult their website: http://www.macolerdola.cat/Visita-ns/Informacio-per-a-la-visita

It consists of a whole series of vestiges and constructions that allow you to follow the history of Penedes from the Bronze Age to the High Middle Ages. The spectacular Sant Miquel church and the Pla dels Albats necropolis (both from the Middle Ages) stand out. Within the protected natural environment of the Regional Park of Olèrdola, and with a privileged view over the surroundings of Vilafranca and Garraf, there is a whole series of vestiges and constructions that allow you to follow the history of Penedes since the Bronze Age (about 4,000 years ago) until the High Middle Ages. It is located in an installation of the Museum of Archeology of Catalonia (MAC), which includes an interpretation center, and the visit to the complex is organized in an itinerary that starts at the interpretation center and links the various points of interest The vestiges of the Roman era are some of the most interesting, such as the wall (2nd-1st centuries BC), which defended the only point on the mountain that is not surrounded by cliffs and consists of a single central gate and four towers, and the cistern (also from the 2nd-1st centuries BC), dug into the rock and used to store rainwater, unique in the country for its capacity of 350,000 litres. From the Middle Ages, the spectacular church of Sant Miquel stands out, perched on top of the hill of the same name and destroyed and rebuilt several times since the beginning of the 10th century. It consists of two parts, one pre-Romanesque (built in 929) , which still preserves the apse and stands out for its horseshoe arch, and another from later (10th-12th centuries), which was in use until 1885. It is also necessary to mention the necropolis of Pla dels Albats (10th- XI), with a hundred anthropomorphic tombs excavated in the rock next to the ruins of the chapel of Santa Maria, the various structures of Iberian and medieval streets, houses and silos, the castle, also medieval, and the Roman watchtower.