Few places in Catalonia carry as much weight as Poblet. The Cistercian monastery was founded in the middle of the twelfth century on land granted by Count Ramon Berenguer IV, and over the following generations it became the royal pantheon of the Crown of Aragon, the place where kings chose to be buried under carved alabaster. It is still a working community of monks, which gives the vast walled complex a quietness that the coach parties never quite manage to break. UNESCO listed it in 1991, and walking through the outer gates, past the first enclosure and into the cloister, you feel the scale of medieval monastic power in a way that a textbook never conveys.
It sits at the foot of the Prades mountains, between the villages of Vimbodí and L'Espluga de Francolí, in the wine country of the Conca de Barberà. The landscape is a broad, bowl-shaped plain of vineyards and almond trees rimmed by wooded ridges, and that rim is where the riding gets interesting. The roads that climb into the Prades massif towards Prades village and Siurana are narrow, twisting and often deserted, with red sandstone cliffs and long views back over the plain. Down on the valley floor things are faster and more open, with a fair amount of agricultural traffic at harvest time in September.
Poblet is also one of three great Cistercian houses within an easy ride of each other. Santes Creus lies to the east and the nuns' monastery of Vallbona de les Monges to the north, and the loop linking them is signposted as the Ruta del Cister. It makes an excellent half day on a bike, all minor roads and small villages, with a cooperative winery somewhere along most stretches.
For practical matters, head for Montblanc, about seven kilometres away. It is a walled medieval town in remarkably good condition, and local tradition places the legend of Saint George and the dragon right outside its gates. You will find fuel there and in L'Espluga, plus plenty of places for lunch, and the local cava and trepat reds are worth a bottle in the panniers for later. Summers are hot on the plain, so plan the monastery visit for the morning and save the mountain roads for the softer evening light.