The next day (24/4) Lyndal decided she had done enough walking and had a day off to explore the comforts of our Apartment, so I took the hop on/off bus for a look around the city. Notable in Barcelona are the hundreds, indeed thousands of motor scooters lining the sidewalks – a popular and very practical mode of transport in the narrow streets. Compared to those you see in Australia most of them are more substantial, more like step through motorcycles.
The bus took me passed most of the sights we saw with our guide on the first day but I got off for a couple of hours at the Maritime Museum, which is recognised as one of the finest maritime museums in the world. It was most impressive and interesting, going back to the days of Columbus when Spain was a great power.
In the evening we were looking for a nice meal, not too heavy. I had a walk around the area and spotted a nice Sushi restaurant.
So we dined there and it turned out to be very nice indeed, beautiful food
– and also rather expensive, which we would have known if we read the reviews before we went, not after.
The next day Lyndal had booked a coach tour to Montserrat monastery and a vineyard about an hour’s drive out of Barcelona.
It was to these mountains that a Benedictine monk fled with the monastery’s most treasured possession. A small wooden statue of the Madonna and child that is believed to have been carved in Jerusalem at the beginning of Christianity. Found in a cave centuries later, a small chapel was built to protect it, which over the years evolved into the Montserrat Monastry and attracts millions of pilgrims each year
The monastery is at 1,240m near the top of a granite mountain – a spectacular setting. It was also rather cool naturally and since I failed to take note of the elevation I went up there without my jacket, so had to buy a jumper from the monks who cleverly kept plenty in stock. Spectacular buildings and a beautiful cathedral, most of which had to be rebuilt after being destroyed by Napoleon’s troops because it was seen as a political centre for the Spanish guerilla resistance.
Many of our group chose to hike down to the sacred caves but we chose to explore the Museum of Montserrat, which has a wonderful art collection with more than 1,300 works on display by great artists such as Caravaggio, El Greco, Dalí, Picasso, Degas, Monet and Renoir.
It also has static and interactive displays showcasing the Monastry’s thousand year history as well as a soundproof cubicle where you can lie back and immerse yourself in the music and voices of one of the oldest choir of boys in Europe. The Montserrat boys’ choir of altos and sopranos are renown around the world for the high standard of the music they produce.
Needed another day at least!
We were to rejoin the coach at the bottom of the mountain so took the mountain tramway down – rather a thrilling and spectacular train ride.
From there we went to a one of the local vineyards for wine tasting and lunch.
After tasting some very nice wines we looked through some of the original old barns and wine making equipment before sitting down to a delightful multi course lunch. Then it was back to town for a quiet night to get ready for an earlyish start in the morning for the Seville train.