Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, Spain

We took a day trip from Barcelona to go wine tasting in Spain's Cava region. It felt good to be in a wine-growing region. It reminded us of back home in California.

Cava, we learned, is Spanish sparkling wine, produced mainly in the Penedès region in Catalonia, Spain. This region is an easy day trip from Barcelona, just inland and south west. It was a relaxing tour bus ride through the Spanish countryside.

From the bus, we saw the massive rock formation that makes up the jagged Montserrat mountain. We didn't get to visit Montserrat, but I'm curious, because it is supposed to be one of the possible locations of the Holy Grail from the legends of Kind Authur.

We did see the village of Sant Sadurní d'Anoia and the surrounding area, which produces nearly 95% of Spain's total Cava output. This is where the most famous (or most prolific) Spanish Cava is produced by the winery Freixenet.

Even though I've become big fan of Champagne and Prosecco and other sparkling wines, we didn't go for the Cava this time. For this trip, we went after the Spanish reds. After drinking our share of the local reds, we each bought a couple of bottles to take home -- but not too many bottles, mind you, because Singapore has very strict limits and very high import duties on wine and spirits.

Then we both took a well-earned nap on the bus on the way back to Barcelona.