If you are in Barcelona and have a sunny afternoon to spare and you fancy getting out of the buzzing city, then you might want to pay a visit to the Sakya Tashi Ling temple located at Plana near Olivella. This lovely monastery is situated in the heart of Parc del Garaf and is both colourful and peace-inducing.
Originally called the Plana Novella Palace, the Tibetan monastery established itself in July of 1996 and was the first Buddhist monastery in Catalunya. The monks here follow the Sakyapa tradition and the teachings of Sakya Trizin, an ancient king from Tibet now considered to be a great spiritual leader.
We visited on a bright sunshiney day complete with clear dark blue skies despite it being March, which made for a wonderful canvas.
The monastery is surrounded by beautiful hills of lushest green, and views of the Mediterranean Sea in the distance. Combined with the positive chanting of the monks, it feels like a very special place to be and you will feel very lucky to be there.
Related article: Barcelona for Buddhists
In the prayer garden, colourful cloths billow like fidgeting flags and gently oscillate at the will of the breeze – each containing a prayer. In the centre of the garden is a quite odd-looking shrine embellished with unusual symbolism and containing small gold effigies of gods such as the elephant god, Lord Ganesha.
A busy little café offers reasonably priced food, herbal teas, home-made cakes and ice creams, whilst a tiny shop sold trinkets, crystals, statues, cards and the usual ‘spiritual’ suspects to the tourists.
This is a really enjoyable and calming day trip outside of Barcelona, which will only take an afternoon, although a side-trip to the not-so-calm but equally enjoyable seaside town of Sitges, is thoroughly recommended.
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