We rose and showered etc. I opened the curtains with just my towel wrapped
around me to laughs, ola's and waves from the opposite balcony - where a class
of teenage boys were standing. I hadn't thought that anyone could see us
from the 3rd floor as we'd got used to a window with no view, and didn't know
there was a music school opposite us!
Today we are off to Montserrat - I have heard so much about this place over
the years and am really looking forward to going there. We saw the mountain in
the distance as we drove to Barcelona, it looked wonderful, all ragged edged,
craggy and moody. It is an hour by train from Barcelona, a lot of which is
underground, so pretty boring. We arrived, and had chicken and chips for lunch
at a little cafe by the station, which we shared with 2 stray cats { amazingly
thick cats I may add, they made Indica seem highly intelligent, he is now
promoted and has a degree in sociology} We were zoomed up in the cable car, I
think it broke the speed limit, in no time at all we reached the summit.
Both of us are totally under whelmed by Montserrat, Virgin
Mary and the Monastery are very nice, the mountain is just a mountain at the
top, a pretty crap tourist shop, a bar selling undrinkable drinks. There are
{as every lovely monument we've seen in Spain} the ever present 2 - 3
cranes utterly ruining the views. They seem to be mandatory here, find a
national or beautiful monument, and stick in a couple of cranes,
plus plenty of dust to choke on from all the new buildings being erected. A 4
hour time waster when we are running out of time! The best view of Montserrat was
from outside Barcelona, so we caught the train back.
We headed for the Placa Espanya and the Parc de Montjuic. They were
laid out for the1929 International Exhibition and are located near the railway
station. There are 8 or 9 escalators to take people most of the way to the
summit. The bronze
sculpture in the forefront represents trade, industry and shipping. There are 2
lovely Venetian towers here, then a procession of lovely fountains leading all
the way up the tree lined avenue to a staircase, the fountains continue
with flower gardens along the middle. Eventually at the top you reach the
majestic Palau Nacional building, home to the Nacional Art Museum. Four days a
week they display the fountains with dancing waters which
Andrew photographed from the bus, today wasn't one of them unfortunately. We
carried on up, looked at part of the Miramar Gardens, full of cacti, there are
lovely views over Barcelona from near the summit of Montjuic, and another
strange cemetery at the bottom.
Poble Espanyol, our next stop is an authentic model of an old
Spanish "town" again built for the 1929 exhibition it is pretty, a bit like any other Andalucian
town containing bars, restaurants and craft workshops within it's large circular
walls. We
walked back down through the switched off water fountains and caught the Metro
to Port Vell where we found Emporium restaurant for dinner, after a windy walk
along the marina. A fish platter and steak with rioja, again very nice,
particularly the fish. We had some drinks and caffe solo in a couple of bars en
route to the hotel. Millet and Picasso tomorrow - hope they will be as good as
they look!
Kept awake most of night by happy people singing on their way home, followed
by the bin men who arrive at 3.45am every morning and clear the empties as well
as the rubbish. Maybe we shouldn't have moved to a front bedroom.
