Management offsite in Barcelona
Every year around April the global management of our company gathers to align on the strategy and goals for the current year. It’s a moment away from the day to day work to be able to focus fully on the challenges and opportunities we have or see. This years edition was on the property of Sant Benet, which is an hour drive outside of Barcelona. The location is deliberatly chosen to be isolated so there is as less distraction as possible. It is a special variant of travelling as in the end, we spent most of our time in meeting rooms. But still, I enjoyed it very much.
One day we stop our meetings a little earlier and this year we took the bus towards Montserrat. We arrived around 16:00 which gave us 2 hours free time to hike. Naturally some groups are formed and during the hike there is some time to get to know each other better in a less formal way. As this happens in nature during a hike, I enjoy this big time.
There is also a possibility to take a train to the top and hike down, but obviously I wanted to join a group which hiked up and down. With our small group we also took a turn from the bigger path and hiked up a very steep small track to a view point on the monastery. A pity the track led to a dead end and we couldn’t continue towards the top of the hill. We had to return to the main path and took the out-and-back path to the top. Be aware that there are a few steep parts in the path, but everyone managed to overcome these parts. You will be rewarded with some 360 views which seem endless, but very hard to capture in a photo.
We took the bus towards the monastery but o boy what would I have liked to ride that road up with my race bike. It’s a roughly 10 km road in very good condition with some nice turns. I do think I will ever go back and ride up that hill, but we’ll seen when we are able to slot that in.
After our hike at Montserrat we took the bus to Abadal winery where we arrived around 19:00. A guided tour of 1 hour was foreseen but as most people were starving, the guided tour was shorten to 30 minutes. The group was split in 2 groups and each got a young guide which were both so inspiring. They were enthusiastic, driven and were very knowledgeable about the history, wine making process and winery environment. We had a tasteful tapas-based supper accompanied by their own wines. I can strongly recommend the 3.9 red wine which is a good match for my taste. Before heading to the bus we passed in the shop where you can buy their products.
Hotel Món is a 4-star superior hotel that is part of a unique natural environment in the grounds of the ancient monastery of Sant Benet. After a great rest in their soundproof rooms you can consume the extended buffet style breakfast. There is plenty of choice to get you fueled for a busy day in meeting rooms. There is a swimming pool with bar service, but as we were in meetings between 08:00 and 18:00 there was no time to enjoy this. Luckily we travelled on Sunday to get the most out of our offsite, so we did find a small window on Sunday late afternoon after arrival to enjoy this area.
This location was great to have our strategical meetings and break out sessions as there is more than 2,000 m2 of facilities distributed in 19 rooms for holding conventions, conferences, presentations and meetings. All with natural light and equipped with cutting-edge technological equipment.
It is very convenient that there are a few restaurants to have dinner so you don’t have to leave the property and can be extremely efficient with the limited hours of time in a day. With the great weather we were able to have one evening the dinner in the gardens of the monestry. Another evening we had dinner in the cellars of the monestry. Each very atmospheric and making the work related dinners enjoyable.
