Nunneries and Pâtisseries: Tourists’ Gastronomic Experiences at Sacred Sites

This work traces the experiences spontaneously expressed by travellers who stop at convents throughout Spain to admire their cultural heritage and also to taste their typical pastries. The aim of this study is to analyse the dialectical relationship between the sacred and the profane in heritage and its tourism context, through content analysis and the narrative generated in a social network for tourists. The initial hypothesis is based on possible cultural differences in the characterisation of the experience of visiting these sacred spaces where pastries have been consumed and in the existence of a differentiated pattern association between different levels: values, types of content, narration of events and activation of cultural heritage. The results show the possibilities of the dialectic relationship with gastronomy through which sacred-touristic-heritage sites (nunneries) can be re-adapted to the twenty-first century without losing an iota of spiritual efficiency and emphasising their sustainability.