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| abbey |
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| Monserrat cable car |
thing in the morning, overcast, even a bit of rain! – lovely, 26º later in the day and blazing sun
Steps – 20,884
Today was all about Monserrat. Montserrat is a 9th century Benedictine abbey about 45 minutes out 
very hard to see Black Madonna
of about 720 meters
above sea level. We were taken there with a guide and 6 other people. We drove
to the base of a cable car, then climbed 5 minutes climb to the base of the monastery.
We’ve visited a few monasteries, and this is by far the most ‘developed’ we’ve
ever seen. This was almost like a tiny resort town with a hotel, hostel,
museum,
restaurant, and gift shop, in addition to the abbey.
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| first sight of Monserrat |
We visited the church with it’s
famed Black Madonna – black because of the wood it is carved from that has
blackened over time. You can visit the Madonna close up for €5 – we didn’t. You
can see her from a distance while visiting the church.
Almost what impressed me most
about this church is how respectful people were to be quiet. We’ve been in
plenty of places were this is requested, but people ignore…here, everyone was
super respectful.
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| Monserrat |
Being that this place is on a
mountain, there are some hiking trails around. We take one of these trails to a
lookout point…it was a significant hike. We rewarded ourselves after with a
beverage
of course.
altar
Back in town, the tour over, we wandered
a bit. We chose hotel we are at this time because it is in a new part of Barcelona
to us. It is a bit of a residential area, with a university and hospital. We
found ourselves at the sea and thought some tapas and wine would be a good idea…it
was. We had calamari, pedron
peppers, and pan con tomate washed down with some
wine…all was delicious! The setting was terrific too, right on the beach.
interesting chapel
The evening was similar to last
night…a bit of a wander, a bit of food and bit of drink. We headed out around
9:30 and places were PACKED! Finally we found a place that seemed
underwhelming, but in the en
church
d was grea
lunch setting
t…mostly because of the guy who ran the
place…super interactive and funny. We didn’t get back until after
seaside lunch
midnight, but
have nothing on the go in the morning, so can sleep in.
goal of our hike
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