Montserrat

 Today we took a day trip out to Monserrat. It was by far the hottest day out that we have experienced here in Barcelona and we had hoped that getting up in the mountains would help it be a little cooler. Unfortunately, getting closer to these mountains meant getting further from the ocean and it just got hotter the farther inland we went. In order to get to Monserrat we walked to the metro then rode that to a train station. We boarded a train that then took us to the cable car. When we first ditched our rental car I was enjoying having the kids learn how to take public transport. I still don't mind it too much most of the time, but today would have been okay to have our own car.

Montserrat is perched up on the cliff tops. The mountains reminded us some of the Dolomites though less green and more desert like. 

We had ticket to go into the Basilica. We had planned to hike around some before going in, but by the time we got there we were all starving and didn't have much time before we needed to go into the Basilica, so we found some shade and had a picnic. Then we went inside.

We ended up in a line slowly working our way through the church until we arrived at the statue below: Our Lady of Montserrat or The Black Madonna. She is kept as the crowning piece of work on top of the altar piece. We were able to walk up and get real close and even touch her hand and the globe she holds. She is considered the patron saint of Catalonia.

Our route then went outside and around so that we could enter the chapel on the ground floor. While we were there someone was playing the organ. As with every church we have been in it is grand and glorious, but having the music playing is something special. These cathedrals were built to reverberate music and to make it so much more grand. I loved sitting in the pews listening to the organist.

After leaving the church we toured the art museum. It is strange to have spent over a month in Europe and to have today be our first time inside an art museum.

Monet

Picasso

Monet

Montserrat

We got to see a mummy. Lucette has been dying to see a dead body this whole trip. We don't know why. She was so disappointed that none of the crypts or catacombs had bodies in them. Strange kid. Today we saw a mummy and she seemed underwhelmed by the experience. I thought it was pretty cool.

After the museum we took the funicular to the top of the mountain. We took a little hike while up there. The wind was blowing which made it less miserable and the views were great.

The path we hiked was really awesome. We got to go on some old stairs that were in disrepair and through some tunnels along the cliff edge. It was a really cool path. We got to a place where the path went even more steeply up to get to the top of the mountain. We knew that we only had a short amount of time before the last funicular went down the mountain. We may have some PTSD from missing our cable car in the Dolomites. I decided not to continue and to start making my way back. Azure had already stopped to rest and wasn't wanting to continue. Lucette, Cormac, and Ammon soldiered on to the top while Azy and I casual walked back to the funicular station.

We had run out of water before we even started our hike. Ammon was able to scrounge enough change to get us one little water bottle, but we went through that really fast. We got off the funicular and went in search of water. They had a little market there and we bought 2 large water bottles. Spain has not had nearly as many water bottle refill stations as our previous stops. We exited the store gulping down the water when we looked over and found the water refill station. Rude. On the bright side the water bottles had cold water which was glorious.

We rode the cable car down and reversed all our actions from this morning to get back home. While walking back from the Metro we stopped at a bakery and got bread and some chocolate croissants to go along with our leftovers for dinner. Then as we were about to head inside we stopped at our gelato place across the street. The guy is getting pretty familiar with us. It was a good day. Tomorrow we will celebrate Ammon's birthday party with a kayaking adventure. We are all looking forward to spending the hot day in the water.