Climbing a mountain

We took a daytrip from Barcelona today to visit Montserrat, a mountain located about 31 miles northwest of Barcelona. Montserrat, which means Serrated Mountain, is 4,055 feet high. It's is a very interesting mountain, and I'll post some pictures below so you can see what it looks like. It is more round shaped than most mountains. The mountain is home to one of the most important shrines in this region of Spain. The monastery dates back to 1025. It was put there to honor a vision of the Virgin on the mountain. There are some 80 monks that live at Montserrat today.

We began our trip by visiting the Montserrat Museum, which is home to a variety of art, including works by Picasso, Monet and El Greco. After spending about 30 minutes in the museum, we visited the 16th Century basilica. Normally, the Montserrat Boys' Choir plays each day, but since it is summer, they are on vacation. The choir is said to be Europe's oldest music school. While at the basilica, I was able to light a candle in memory of my 3-month-old cousin who passed away this week from spinal muscular atrophy.

From there, we ventured back outside and began a hike up the mountain. A tram carried us up the first 820 feet and we hiked the rest of the way. I'm not sure how high we climbed, but I think we reached the second highest point on the mountain. There were some amazing views of the basilica and surrounding area from the top. Shortly after we arrived, however, fog began to set in and the stunning views soon disappeared. It was a great hike up. I'll post a few pictures of our trip up.

After hiking back down, we visited one more museum that showed a video about the daily life of the monks who live at Montserrat. We then returned to Barcelona before going out for another great dinner. The owner of the restaurant in which we ate Saturday invited us to another place he owns, La Luna, so we had dinner there tonight. It was just as tasty as Saturday night!

It's hard to believe, but tomorrow is my last full day in Spain! My flight leaves Wednesday morning to return home! We are visiting the Sagrada Familia tomorrow and then returning to the beach for a couple of hours. It should be another fun day both in and away from Barcelona. I'll have one more update from Spain tomorrow night!

Hasta pronto,
--Justin

Montserrat

The facade at the basilica, which has carvings of Christ and the 12 Apostles. It was added in 1901. 

Inside the basilica. 

On the hike up Montserrat. 

Sant Joan chapel 

View of the basilica from the climb up Montserrat. 

Some stairs we climbed as we hiked up Montserrat.