On top of the world – almost!
December 20th. Barcelona. For two days we went on the Barcelona hop-on hop-off bus. It’s a chance to get a good overview of the city and plan what we would like to see, so we didn’t hop-on or off as such. Then today we went to Montserrat, about an hour’s train ride out of Barcelona. What a stunning day out – the best day since our time away. It was clear and cold (-2 C).
Montserrat is a more than 1,000 year old Monastery 3,000 feet up from the valley floor in an unusual formation of mountains. More accurately, after Napoleon had destroyed the monastery and plundered its assets in the 19th Century the monastery had to be reconstructed, and then more reconstruction was required as a result of the Spanish Civil War. Much of the monastery is closed to the public but the basilica is open, and this is well worth seeing. Smaller than constructions such as Notre Dame, it has a presence about it that makes one aware of the link to more than just us.
The surrounding mountains are what make this monastery so amazing, their jagged and column-like shapes. We wonder how the monastery was able to be built in this rugged environment, and how the railway leading up to it was built. The scenery is breathtaking.
Take the train from Barcelona. You then have a choice between the rack railway and the cable car to complete the journey – we took the rack railway. From the monastery you can take the funicular railway up higher and then walk (or climb) to greater heights so that you are looking down a thousand feet or more onto the monastery.
Anyone coming to Barcelona this is a must do, must see. Our video of the rack railway descent is too long for You Tube so check out someone else’s video from You Tube, it will give you an idea of the scenery, though their day is not as clear as ours was