| Glenn's Barcelona Journals 6-01-02 The plan today was a day trip to Montserrat. Montserrat is a 1236 meter mountain shaped by the elements over time from a conglomeration of limestone, pebbles, and sand that once lay under the sea. The Monestir de Montserrat (Monastery) sits on the side of the mountain at 725 meters. We started the day preparing for the day trip. We had enough information to know what time the trains left that were heading to the Montserrat - Aeri station where we would then take a cable car up the side of the mountain to the monastery. We were running a little late so we caught the 11:30 am train out to the appropriate train station. After the breathtaking ride in the cable car up the side of the mountain we had arrived in Montserrat around 1:15 pm. We didn't realize until later that we had missed the Montserrat Boys' Choir that performs every day, except Sunday, at 1:00 pm.. The Montserrat Boys Choir is considered a rare treat as they only sing outside of Montserrat 5 times a year. Once we arrived in town we stopped into information for a map of the area including a walking tour map of the surrounding mountain. Before taking our hike we visited the Basilica, including La Moreneta (the Black Virgin) which is a 12th century Romanesque wooden sculpture of Mary with the infant Jesus. The Basilica dates from the 16th century while the monastery was founded in 1025 AD.. We headed out for our walk around the mountain and chose either itinerary 4 or 5 (each listed at 1 1/2 hours of mostly moderate walking) as the trek we would take. Each started in the town by taking another cable car farther up the side of the mountain before actually starting the hike. Once on top we started out down path #5 only to have to turn back when we determined that this path seemed to be a little more overgrown than we preferred and not quite as well marked as we would have liked. We then returned to the start of the trak and headed up path #4. We also knew that these paths would cross later on in the trek so if we wanted to switch back we could. After a half hour, and some spectacular views of the mountain itself and back towards Barcellona, we came across the intersection of the two paths. We decided to switch back to path #5 as it was the shortest route back to town and it was starting to become overcast with a chance of rain. On the path back to town we stopped and sat on a nearby hill while we listened to the sound of music coming from the town. It echoed throughout the town and off the mountain so amazingly well that we ended up sitting there for a good half hour or better. We finally finshed our walk back into town in time to catch the next cable car back to the train station. We arrived back in Barcellona around 7:30 pm. We went back to the room to clean up from the day before going back out for dinner. Tonight we had dinner back at La Fonda, a restaurant that we had enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a few night back. After dinner we called it a night after strolling back up the La Rambla. |
| Interesting View back at Montserrat from the hiking trail we were on. |
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