Montserrat & Friexnet
So today I took my first guided day tour. It was in a minivan with a scottish driver, george, and three vacationers from Denmark. It was an interesting experience. George himself was very interesting. He did these tours mainly as a way to get himself out of the city and make a little money at the same time. He was a financial consulatant who 4 years ago quit his job to travel and has been living in various exotic locals ever since, including fiji, austrailia and the latest spain for the last two years. But he seems to be sick of the spaniards, and their food (he´s a vegetarian) so he is thinking of moving on.... he just wants someone to take over his minibus business so he can continue to make money off it. (I didn´t volunteer).
We were taken up to Montserrat, a monestary near the top of a large mountain near barcelona (1236m). The mountain area itself is very beautiful it reminds me a lot of the needles in the black hills of South dakota only on a much grander scale. It was gorgeous. From the monestary you can take a funicular to the top of the mountain and hike on many hiking trails. It was fantastic to get up above and hike. I realized it is the first time I have heard natural silence in 5 weeks of traveling, no cars, just the wind, crickets, and birds. I was surprised to have the trail entirely to myself as I walked back down to the monestary. It was a wide trail practically paved so luckily I had plenty of room to make sure there were no snakes going to sneak out and scare me.
The monestary is also known for its statue of the vigin mary and christ. Both are black (unusual). It is the patron saint of Cataluna so people come from all over to rub the statue for luck. I waited in line to see it next to a woman who was holding her grandchild, when they came to the statue they rubbed the childs head on it and said some prayers. There was also a room nearby with items such as wedding dresses and children´s clothes--offerings to the virgin.
On our way back down we stopped for a cava tasting at friexnet (don´t worry you can get it in the US they also have a winery in california). I didn´t really like this part of the tour. Remember in "sideways" where they go to the large winery with wine coming out of all the fountains? It was a bit like that. At one point in the tour we all got on a train and were driven through the 11 floors of wine. (Mass production?) The "tasting" consisted of one glass of cava which tasted exactly like the friexnet I´ve had in the US. Ahh well, I bought a bottle of organic red wine at the store instead. I´ll tell you how it is after I drink it with my dormmates tonight. (I don´t have high hopes).
On the way back into town George was explaining to me all the things I had left to do in Barcelona and I explained I only had one more day and Sagrada Familia had to take precidence so our tour was extended to include the olympic village and the castell on the top of the highest hill with a full panoramic view of barcelona. It was sunset and it was spectacular.
All in all a top notch tour. I think I will do similar ones in other cities if I get the chance.
We were taken up to Montserrat, a monestary near the top of a large mountain near barcelona (1236m). The mountain area itself is very beautiful it reminds me a lot of the needles in the black hills of South dakota only on a much grander scale. It was gorgeous. From the monestary you can take a funicular to the top of the mountain and hike on many hiking trails. It was fantastic to get up above and hike. I realized it is the first time I have heard natural silence in 5 weeks of traveling, no cars, just the wind, crickets, and birds. I was surprised to have the trail entirely to myself as I walked back down to the monestary. It was a wide trail practically paved so luckily I had plenty of room to make sure there were no snakes going to sneak out and scare me.
The monestary is also known for its statue of the vigin mary and christ. Both are black (unusual). It is the patron saint of Cataluna so people come from all over to rub the statue for luck. I waited in line to see it next to a woman who was holding her grandchild, when they came to the statue they rubbed the childs head on it and said some prayers. There was also a room nearby with items such as wedding dresses and children´s clothes--offerings to the virgin.
On our way back down we stopped for a cava tasting at friexnet (don´t worry you can get it in the US they also have a winery in california). I didn´t really like this part of the tour. Remember in "sideways" where they go to the large winery with wine coming out of all the fountains? It was a bit like that. At one point in the tour we all got on a train and were driven through the 11 floors of wine. (Mass production?) The "tasting" consisted of one glass of cava which tasted exactly like the friexnet I´ve had in the US. Ahh well, I bought a bottle of organic red wine at the store instead. I´ll tell you how it is after I drink it with my dormmates tonight. (I don´t have high hopes).
On the way back into town George was explaining to me all the things I had left to do in Barcelona and I explained I only had one more day and Sagrada Familia had to take precidence so our tour was extended to include the olympic village and the castell on the top of the highest hill with a full panoramic view of barcelona. It was sunset and it was spectacular.
All in all a top notch tour. I think I will do similar ones in other cities if I get the chance.
posted by mnlrs at 10:54 AM
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