After an early wake up again for both of us (jet lag fail) we were on our way to the local metro station before the sun came up. From there we swapped on to the rural railway line out towards Montserrat.
Montserrat or “serrated mountain” is a big mountain about an hour out of Barcelona. The area houses a huge monastery, amazing views and the boys choir. We caught the train for an hour and then a cable car halfway up to the monastery. Just amazing views on the way up.
From there, we caught the funicular (small train on a cable system) further up and walked 15 mins to Sant Joan. B walked a bit further up towards Santa Cova but couldn’t go the whole way without some rock climbing gear. Eep.
Sant Joan
We then went to the church where we had already beaten the crowds and touched the blessed Black Madonna (photo below courtesy of Google because unlike all the Japanese tourists in front of us I followed the very clear no photo rule!) and joined the throngs of people to hear the boys choir sing.
The choir is world renowned, they sounded amazing. The crowd was a bit too much for me as we were packed into the church with only two small exits….eeep
This was before it got really crowded, by the time we left the crowds were blocking every exit and you could barely squish through
So, an early escape was made giving us a clear run at the free lunch included in the all day tot Montserrat ticket. Some more amazing photos and then it was back down in the cable car and back on the train into Barcelona.
A day trip well worth the travel effort, even with some motion sickness on the way back. Now at 4:30pm it is siesta time before dinner. Gotta embrace the Spanish lifestyle. Percy and I certainly need a siesta after even more hills today…
Percy needs his daily siesta to keep up! After all, his legs are shorter than ours
Kilometres walked at 4:30pm: 9.6kms
Steps walked at 4:30pm: 13306
Tomorrow: more city exploring and a cabaret show at El Molina in the evening…in Spanish! B picked this as something he wanted to do, I think he is developing a taste for cabaret. I’m sure all the half naked ladies have nothing to do with it 🙂 dancing shoes ahoy!
Mel's Travel Blog 