MUHBA Vil•la Joana

If you want to understand the soul of Barcelona, you have to leave the city. You have to get out of the humid, diesel-choked labyrinth of the Ciutat Vella and head up. Way up. Past the fancy apartments of Sarrià, past the funicular tracks, and into the green, pine-scented lungs of the Serra de Collserola. Here, tucked away like a secret the city isn't quite ready to share, sits MUHBA Vil·la Joana. It’s a 19th-century masia—a traditional Catalan farmhouse—that feels less like a museum and more like a sanctuary for the ghosts of a lost era.

This isn't one of those high-gloss, interactive tourist traps where you’re ushered through a gift shop every twenty minutes. This is the House of Literature. It’s where Jacint Verdaguer, the priest-poet who basically reinvented the Catalan language with his epic verses, spent his final days in 1902. He came here sick, looking for the mountain air to save him. It didn’t, but the house remains a testament to the man and the culture he helped define. If you’re looking for things to do in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi that don't involve shopping or overpriced gin-and-tonics, this is your spot.

The experience starts with the journey. You take the Funicular de Vallvidrera, which feels like a slow-motion ascent into another dimension. From the top, it’s a fifteen-minute walk through the woods. The air changes. It gets cooler, sharper. You see the yellow facade of the villa rising out of the trees, and suddenly the noise of the Eixample feels like a bad dream. Inside, the MUHBA (Museum of the History of Barcelona) has done something rare: they’ve kept the dignity of the place intact. You walk through rooms that track the history of the house from its 16th-century roots to its time as a pioneering school for the deaf and blind, but the heart of the place is Verdaguer’s bedroom. It’s sparse. A bed, a desk, a view of the trees. It’s a reminder that the greatest works of art usually come from a place of quiet and struggle, not from a committee-approved branding exercise.

Is MUHBA Vil·la Joana worth it? If you’re the kind of person who needs a thrill ride or a celebrity chef, probably not. But if you want to see the intersection of nature and narrative, it’s essential. The permanent exhibition, 'Verdaguer, Barcelona and the City of Literature,' isn't just about one guy; it’s about how a city finds its voice. You’ll see old manuscripts, artifacts from the rural life of the Collserola, and a perspective on Catalan identity that you won't find in the guidebooks handed out at the airport. It’s one of the best museums in Barcelona for people who actually like to read.

The beauty of Vil·la Joana is that it’s honest. It doesn't pretend the history was always pretty. It acknowledges the poverty of the rural past and the isolation of the poet. But then you step out onto the terrace and look at the rolling hills of the natural park, and you get it. You understand why he came here. You understand why the locals keep this place quiet. It’s a palate cleanser for the soul. Bring a book, wear some decent shoes, and leave your ego at the funicular station. This is a place for listening to the wind in the pines and the echoes of a poet who knew that, in the end, the land is the only thing that lasts.

Don't expect a cafeteria with artisanal avocado toast. There’s a small area to rest, but you’re better off packing a sandwich or heading back to the village of Vallvidrera for a vermut. This is a pilgrimage, not a mall crawl. It’s a chance to see Barcelona from the outside looking in, and frankly, the view is much better from here.