Barcelona and Montserrat

Friday December 24, 2010 Day 177

We awoke early to the engine noises of the docking process. We went to breakfast on the top deck, then came back and packed. Departure was quick and easy. In the terminal we waited about 15 minutes for a port bus to come and collect passengers headed into Barcelona. We had only a little trouble finding our hotel - the street had a different name along La Rambla from its name in front of our hotel. We had only a short detour before discovering our mistake.
We arrived about 9:00, and were surprised to be able to check into the hotel this early. Roger suggested that there are probably few guests at the hotel for Christmas Eve. On the counter at the check-in desk were two Santas - one pre-cruise, one post-cruise.

Santa - pre-cruise and post-cruise

We ditched our luggage and left for the subway, where we took the metro to a train station, then boarded a train headed northwest out of the city. An hour later we arrived at Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey high in the Catalonian mountains overlooking the plains of Spain and giving us a vista of the snow-covered Pyrenees. The main attraction is not the monastery itself but the miles of wide, shallow walking paths which surround the monastery and lead to 15 hermitages, in the areas. We accessed the monastery by cable car from the train stop, and the 5-minute ride to the top was spectacular, with the mountains on our side, the valley floor spread out below us, and the Pyrenees beyond. Did I say it was spectacular?

We explored a bit, then had a mediocre lunch - pretty much what you expect on a mountaintop with limited access. We bought some black honey, as we were intrigued by the idea. We entered the basilica just in time to hear the Montserrat Boy’s Choir singing Ave Maria and other pieces. A nice cap to the visit.

We returned to Barcelona and our room, rested for a bit, then went out in search of the famous fountains at La Plaça Carles Buïgas , the Font Mágica de Montjuïc. They were a few subway stops away from our hotel. The fountains have thirteen different choreographies - three film music spectaculars, six classical music, one zarzuela, a twentieth and twenty-first century remix, an 80s-90s remix and Barcelona, by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé. We only saw two, but they were great. They rival the Bellagio in Las Vegas for a combination of fountain work, music and lights. We stayed about an hour enjoying the shows, which are open-air and free to the public. Then we returned to the area of our hotel and had dinner of paella and pizza. Roger had a glass of wine while I had a glass of Spanish sangria.

There was a small market set up on La Rambla - it was being assembled as we walked along the area on our way to catch the train to Montserrat. The sign says it will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily through January 5. Interesting that it opens on Christmas Eve! We walked past the 40 or so booths and saw much the same thing as we saw at the Montpellier Christmas market - jewelry, scarves, soaps, clothing, handcrafted items. There were even some leather items very similar to my new computer case.
 
Our world has just about stopped swaying, and we hit the sack on dry land for the first time in 12 days.