Hotel El Toll Collsuspina Spain

I propose at this point to write about a tour of the northeast quadrant of Spain, starting out in Barcelona. This is is vibrant, fascinating city, exhibiting all the energy, all the vitality that is so characteristic of Catalonia. Unfortunately, we've never found a hotel there that we truly liked. The five stars are prohibitively expensive, we've not come across something like the Westin Palace in Madrid which is, thanks to Priceline, still within the borders of the affordable, and the four stars are a mixed bag: the ones on the Ramblas, in the center, tend to be extremely noisy at night and the ones farther out, while nice enough, are just too far out. So I'll start my itinerary with a hotel about an hour's drive to the North of the city.

The Hotel Toll started out, of all things, as a truck stop. This turned out to be so successful that the owner, a genial Catalan entrepreneur, was able to sink his profits into building a motel-like structure containing two dozen large rooms with marble floors and immaculate bathrooms. The real joy of one's stay consists in observing the continuing activity of the erstwhile truck stop. At breakfast time the truckers come in, select chops and sausages from a sideboard, put their choices on a fire place grill, and then consume them, accompanied with two or three glasses of country wine while, at the top of their voices, commenting on the great events of the day. It's an engaging spectacle, even though it makes you wonder about the wisdom of taking to the roads. If the truckers have started imbibing at breakfast, how's their driving going to be after their lunch break? Anyway, one can drive down to the town of Vich, leave one's car in the railway station's parking lot. and take the train into Barcelona, about an hour's ride. Or one can explore the wonders of rural Catalonia, all within easy reach. Dinner at the hotel are, while perhaps not an Epicurean delight, nevertheless eminently satisfactory. Almost anything from the grill is tasty and there are some really astonishingly good local wines. Vich, about twenty minutes away by a winding but wide mountain road, is a delightful little town with a Romanesque cathedral that contains an eminently worthwhile museum and a surprising number of high end butchers, bakers and groceries, asa well as, in the outskirts, the most imposing hypermercado (super/supermarket) that I've encountererd in Spain. Particularly in mid summer, when the plain is stifling, Collsuspina, at 3,500 feet of altitude, is a wonderful place to stay.