Day 3 (August 23, 2025): Manresa > Rupit > Casteloffit de la Roca > Beget > Oix > Olot

Given the five hour time change, it was 9:01 AM when we opened our eyes, leading to a bit of a mad dash to get up and out. The hotel had provided box breakfast, consisting of focaccia bread, cured meats, juice, and coffee. So we had that in our room.

Manresa, where we had spent the night, has one key attraction, its church - La Seu de Manresa, built in 1322. So we wondered the streets and alleys and explored the beautiful church before heading out. 

While there were some Autoroutes (ie, large highways akin to the USA’s Interstates) included in our driving today, most of the driving, comprised zigzag, twisty windy roads into the mountains.

Our first stop was the near perfect village of Rupit. The village has its roots back in the 11th century, but it died out in the 14th and 15th centuries, due to earthquakes and bubonic plague. It revived again in the 16th and 17th centuries, although it suffered a great deal due to the banditry of the day. Today’s Rupit is a tiny village of stone buildings with a river flowing through it. It is one of Spain little gems. We enjoyed walking the streets, had coffee and pastries at a small hotel, and admired the enormous croissants (See the photo of the 1.3 kg croissant!)

After Rupit, we headed to Castelfollit de la Roca. Imagine a long finger of a cliff protruding into a valley, with chockablock stone buildings dating back hundreds of years. I had seen pictures of this place and really wanted to see it. And trust me, it did not disappoint!

Next stop, after a long and white-knuckle drive higher and higher into the mountains on a tiny single lane road, we found another perfect village: Beget, population 28! We wandered its a little cobblestone streets and found a visiting group of accordion players giving a little concert. It was so wonderful and authentic, we had to pinch ourselves to make sure it was real.

It was just after 5 PM when we started the long drive down the mountain, making a quick stop at another tiny village, Oix, en route, and arrived at hotel in the regions hub town of a lot just after 6:30 PM. Restaurants don’t open until 8 PM for dinner, so we had some time to walk the streets and find the town’s largest church before heading to a neighbourhood restaurant, which was completely authentic. The calamari tapas plate was excellent, I should note. 

- Manresa, with its church

- scenery enroute to Rupit

- picture-perfect Rupit!

- Castolfollit de la Roca

- scenes enroute to Beget

- Beget

- Oix’s colourful main street and church, which burned in a 1936 forest fire 

- Olot’s main church 



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