06 November 2017 – Day 2  Barcelona – Tour of Montserrat

A little nervous start making sure we got to the tour starting point on time and we were fortune to have a taxi waiting at the pier and he spoke a bit of English and took us to the tour agency with no problem!

We boarded the bus with a total of 16 people and headed out of the city center.  Along the way, Nadim, our tour guide gave us a very good history of how the 1898 Expo and 1929 Expo changed the city landscape and showed us some unique details of how the growth was laid out.  The last piece that changed the city drastically for the better was the 1992 Olympics, which added transit infrastructure and housing.  There was even an old bullring that was converted to an arena, elevated so that an underground parking structure could be built underneath it, and then placed back on top!!

We left the city proper and started our climb to the monastery of Montserrat, located at 4,051 ft. elevation in limestone peaks that have been weathered by the sea and wind and rain.  The “serrated mountains”, Montserrat, are said to be 21 million years old.

A winding, twisting and steep road (and that is an understatement) brought us to our destination.  We were blessed with a cool, crisp, clear sky with lots of wind and sunshine, from which we could see the snow-capped Pyrenees and the Mediterranean.  Spectacular!!

We toured the grounds, soaked in the beautiful scenery, saw the inside of the monastery and the basilica, and watched an audio-visual of how the monastery came to be, along with the boys’ choir that stay and study there.  Robbi even sampled their liqueurs.  

The locals had a Farmer’s Market set up where we sampled sheep and goat cheese, ate honey and cottage cheese, fig and almond sweets, etc.  A little bit of local culture to add to local flavor and our enjoyment!!

We took a different route down the mountainside to Barcelona and saw the “camel” peak, where a stunt free-base jumper flew thru the “legs” before opening his chute.  Unreal!!  We were advised not to try this at home, but it is on YouTube.  There is even a group of people that meet up there on the 11^th of each month to wait for extraterrestrial beings to appear!!  A protected recreational area for all!!

We have lots of pictures – here are just a few!!