Montserrat

Today was excursion day. I went on a day trip to Montserrat, a Catalan monastery about 1.5 hours outside Barcelona. The basilica sits about 2,500 ft high, wedged in some crazy rock formations. There were a few traveling choirs performing while I was there, as well as the monastery's boy's choir, which is the oldest in europe. The mountain offers some pretty amazing views of the valley north of Barcelona and the Pyrenee mountain range.

According to the Catalans, Luke (as in the gospel of Luke) carved this statue of Mary and hid it in a cave. The Catalan monks found it and have managed to keep it from getting destroyed in various wars over the last 800 years.

Nature walk on Montserrat



View from the bottom



Tonight was our last night in Barcelona, so we went back to our favorite tapas place.

Heading to Granada tomorrow! I'm a little nervous because the Alhambra is sold out for the next couple weeks. I'm not looking forward to getting up at 6am to go wait in line for last minute tickets :(