Every Rain Cloud Has a Silver Lining

Day 4 was a planned day to Montserrat, a mountain about an hour or so outside Barcelona where a Monastery was built nearly a thousand years ago.  There are also many hiking trail at Montserrat that are said to have spectacular views.  Of course we wake up to rain.  And not just a little rain.  A full day forecast of rain.  It rains here like twice a month and today way one of them.  Sigh... Nevertheless we didn't change our plans as we'd be leaving Barcelona the next day and really wanted to go see it.  Thankfully we were prepared and had rain gear so we were all set.  

Getting to Montserrat from our hotel wasn't hard, but did require a few changes of transportation.  Luckily for us, the metro station was directly outside our hotel, you could literally walk out the door and fall in it, it was that close.  So metro to Placa Espanya was only 2 stops on our line and then had to buy a commuter rail ticket to get us to the town at the base of the mountain.  From here you have 2 options to get to the top - cable car or cogwheel train.  We opt for the cable car on the way up and the cogwheel on the way down.  Sue is afraid of heights so doing it first was the right option because the fog was thick and we couldn't really see all that well (or rather couldn't see how far up we were).  

Unfortunately the rain and fog did make for a soggy experience and a lot of the time prevented the views, BUT it did mean there were very few people there and so we never had to wait in line for anything.  And after seeing how beautiful it is up there, I have no doubt that when the weather is good, it must be a zoo up there!!!  Also, the rain would taper off now and then and the fog was in continuous motion and would clear sporadically leaving us with some great views without having to battle crowds of people.

We did the monastery visit first as we arrived around noon and there is a world famous boys' choir that sings every day at 1pm in the basilica.  It was jam packed in there.  They only sing a few songs, but it is very impressive.  The basilica as well is something to behold.  We got an audio guide and followed it throughout the monastery which gave us a chance to do it at our own pace.  Montserrat is also the home of the Black Madonna, a very famous relic statue of Mary and Jesus that people come up to Montserrat as a pilgrimage for.  Personally I find the statue a bit creepy, but it was still cool to see and hear about it's history and significance.  

Montserrat is very high and there are numerous monasteries and churches all over the mountain and the trails take you to the different sites.  Unfortunately due to the weather we didn't get a chance to hike them but we did take the funicular (a very steep funicular) up to Sant Joni where from there I went for a short hike.  It was cut short by deep puddles, but the fog cooperated and lifted just long enough for me to get some pretty awesome views over Catalonia and the mountain.  Sue stayed behind as she wasn't a fan of the steep cliffs.  I took pictures for her ;)

So all in all, despite the rain and fog, it was a great day and a really fun place to visit.  Would definitely do it again and explore all the trails (you could spend a few days up there just hiking).  One of the trails is a "Chemin de la Croix" (Path of the Cross?  I'm a FRENCH Catholic... These English terms mess me up!) leading to a platform on one of the peaks.  The mountain itself is very unique in its formation - it is basically a mountain of compressed pebbles and sand that over the millenia built up and was weathered and smoothed over creating a very unique rounded type of topography.  The stone from the mountain was also used to build much of the buildings that still exist there today.  The monastery will be celebrating its 1000th anniversary in 2025.  That's crazy!

Once arriving back at the hotel we had to book our train to Marseille.  Unfortunately the train that I had wanted to book a few weeks back was no longer an option AND the prices had jumped way up.  We still however had to get to Marseille as our AirBNB is booked and we don't have a room in Barcelona after tonight.  At least an hour spent shopping for trains we settle on the late train @ 16h45 getting us to Marseille around 9h20.  It's the only direct train and shortest one, not to mention the other ones were more expensive of left in the middle of the day forcing us to lose most of our day travelling rather than exploring.  The later train gives us basically another full day in Barcelona.  One less in Marselle, but Barcelona has been treating us so well, we're not overly sad by this new plan.