There are two ways to get up to the top of the mountain and visit the monastary - one is by rack train and the other is the faster, more dramatic and more popular cable car, or aeri. The aeri is right next to the train stop and when you take it, you are lifted literally hundreds of feet in the air for almost 4600 feet to the monastary. The aeri is actually the safer of the two modes to get up there and only takes about 5 minutes. But what a 5 minutes...
We had bought a package transportation ticket to Montserrat that included the round trip train ride, round trip aeri, and unlimited rides on Montserrat's two funiculars, or cliff railcars - Funicular de Sant Joan and Funicular Santa Cova.
As you can see from our pics and video below, the half-day trip was so well worth the 19 Euros (we saved 7 Euros with the package ticket!) It was really unlike anything we have ever experienced. Going on the funicular de Sant Joan and hiking up to the old hermitage was so awesome... On our way back down the mountain to the funicula, we saw the clouds darken and soon there was thunder and large, heavy droplets of water, and we became suddenly aware of the gravelly path underfoot, and the cliffs' edge to the right of us.
But like I said, this experience was something else. Even when the flash thunderstorm ruined our chances to go on the funicular Santa Cova to the old caves and ancient sanctuary of the Black Virgin, I still felt like we were on some amazing adventure, something spectacular, and even getting soaking wet running to the aeri to leave Montserrat, I felt completely happy and exhilarated, as if the rain was our very own nature-baptism by God.
Video of us going up Funicular Sant Joan to the higher points of Montserrat
Walking towards the Hermitage
On Day Four (October 9), our final day in Barcelona, we visited Montjuic, the local mountain of the city. It's a big park, and a lot of walking, but really enjoyable. We saw the Olympic stadium, renovated for the 1992 Olympic games, and wandered Poble Espanyol, a "theme park" of sorts that showcased forced perpective buildings that reflect all of the architectural diversity of the country. The buildings also house several tradesmiths and artesans selling quintessential Spanish wares, as well as more modern, internationally influenced items, and it was very difficult not to blow hundreds of dollars on some of the stuff - it was all so great looking!
The Olympic Stadium whale
After sitting for a peacefully enjoyable moment at a cafe sipping cafe cortados and cafe con leches, overlooking Espanyol's plaza, we decided to - begrudgingly - nix our visit to National Art Musuem of Catalonia ("we'll visit it next time we're here") and take a taxi back the length of the park to the aeris... specifically the well-known one that takes you from Montjuic to Barceloneta, the seaside neighborhood of Barcelona, kind of like L.A.'s Santa Monica, and Olympic Village, another seaside stretch filled with shops and bars.
From Montjuic, we look at Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, still missing its towering basillica, yet to be built. It will eventually top out at 170m, exactly 1 meter short of the peak of Montjuic, so that by design, his work would not surpass that of God's.
We first rode the aeri that took us up to a higher point in the mountain before getting out and walking down to the main aeri that would take us to Barceloneta. But alas!!!!! My publication claimed that the aeri stopped operations at 7 pm, but when we arrived at 5 past 5, we were stopped by the surly aeri operator - a dark man in an ill-fitting blue suit.
"No. Parés. No pot entrar. Està tancat pel dia," he says, or some equivalent. (My lame effort at translating Spanish to Catalan)
I don't understand him at first. "Perdon, pero el aeri de Barceloneta, esta abierto?" (My lame Spanish. lol)
"No, esta cerrado." (His transferring to Spanish. Cursed Franco and these tourists, he's probably thinking.)
"A que hora es abierto hoy?" (You can make fun of me now.)
"Mañana." He says this roughly and takes out a cigarette, lighting it, effectively deeming me invisible.
We look at each other and I apologize to JD. But we felt like Barcelona itself was saving some of its secrets in order to tantalize us back. "Next time we're back here..." we say again, as we walk back down the hill, catch a cab, and head back to the main stretch of the city.
All was soon forgotten with our "last bang" of a meal - gorgeous cry-worthy tapas at Taller de Tapas, overlooking Placa Sant Josep Oriol. And as I looked out of our window at the passersby, nibbling jamon jabugo, sipping my beer, and listening to some wandering musicians serenade a fellow tourist on the balcony, I knew for a fact that there was no way someone could keep me from coming back to this city... and soon.
Whenever Mo and I are on holiday, she apologizes when we can't make time to see all we plan to. She does this despite me constantly telling her "it's not as though we'll never come back." I think the travelling bug has really set in with me, and my laisez faire attitude towards our agendas and schedules isn't me taking these experiences for granted, but my confidence that we will definitely return in the future. Places like Barcelona, and I'm sure many many others we will visit in the future deserve a personal familiarity. Once we make a couple more trips to these favored places to sweep up loose ends on the touring front, we can then begin visiting the city and considering ourselves... how to put it... citizens onced removed? Barcelonephiles? We can then just visit and sink into the culture, and hopefully see it through eyes closer to natives... and envious ones at that.
