This morning we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed for the tourist information office in the centre of town where we purchased train tickets and passes for the Santa Maria de Montserrat abbey, located a little over an hour out of Barcelona in Monistrol de Montserrat. It is the location of a large abbey and Benedictine monastery that holds the Virgin of Montserrat, Catalonia’s favourite saint. Once we arrived at the train station we took the cable car up to the abbey and then stood in line for around 90 minutes to see the statue of the Virgin Mary (frankly, if we had known it was going to take 90 minutes we would have never done it). The statue was carved in the 12th century and is located high above the altar. It is also one of the black Madonnas of Europe.
After lunch we took a funicular (inclined) railway to a spot above the monastery and walked around a bit, enjoying the view. The monastery is located in a section of the mountain that is quite unique compared to the rest of the area. The rocks are smooth and look like the hoodoos but on a much larger scale. Once we came back down we toured the museum which includes artworks of a number of Spanish artists including Picasso and Dali.
We headed back to Barcelona around 5:30 p.m. and went back to the city centre to enjoy strolling around the streets, which were packed full of people enjoying the warm summer evening.
Tomorrow we fly back to Frankfurt while Karen’s parents fly back home to Abbotsford. It has been great having them with us during these two weeks.
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