Day trip to Montserrat

Monday
Today was a day for exploring beyond the boundaries of Barcelona. We jumped on the metro, transferred lines, and headed west for an hour. Once off the train we caught a gondola up a steep hillside to Montserrat. Grant did very well with eyes focused on the horizon, and no doubt toes clenched to the floor and hands gripping tightly. It would have been a very long 5 minute journey!

There has been some significance to the Virgin Mary here since 880 AD and is now home to about 100 Benedictine monks, although we didn't see any sign of them. We visited the museum which has amongst it some very good pieces of art, including some from Picasso, and Dali. There is also a beautiful basilica (of course) which had thousands of people in it watching a very public wedding take place. Montserrat is apparently also famous for its boys choir who sing daily in the basilica, record their music, and travel internationally.

There was an opportunity to travel higher up the hill, which is incredibly steep, however we opted not to in respect of Grants fear of heights. Our tickets included lunch at the restaurant, which was probably slightly better than expected for mass production of food.

On the way back we stopped to see the bullfighting arena that Michael remembered from when we were last here in 1987.  However today only the facade remains and inside the former arena a shopping mall exists. Grant, who loves gadgets, bought himself a travelling iron. We thought we would let him practice on our creased up clothes when we get to Italy. Along our travels back to 'La Rambla' we also come across the Univeristy of Barcelona. What a beautiful building. If I studied there I would never want to leave.

Tuesday
Unbeknown to us until two days ago, today is a public holiday. This means that our plans to visit the Picasso Muesum have been thwarted. Only a fraction of the shops are open, but there are enough bars and restaurants open to keep the tourists happy. After a late breakfast, domesticity in the way of doing the laundry, we spent a couple of hours wandering around the waterfront and ordering bad tapas. We are catching a plane this evening to Genoa, so we say adios to cervcerios (beer), sangria, and tapas. During our time in Spain the football team has been eliminated after defeat in their first two games in the World Cup, and there has been the inauguration of the new Spanish King.

Post script - we didn't make it to Genoa. The flight was cancelled, probably because all flights over France airspace are not happening due to a strike in France.  Presumably this has impacted in the ability for planes to get into other airports. We are slumming it in a quite nice Marriott hotel near the airport, drinking outside near the pool. It could be a lot worse......  We have flights to Florence booked for tomorrow which works well because we are meeting Rebecca at the train station tomorrow night.