Rambla´s Home, BarcelonaThis is part of the common area. To the right, through the archway there were three computers. Behind where the picture is taken from was the kitchen.
Last night we stayed in our first hostel after departing Rochester 20 days ago. We were pampered at Beth's house and then we were pampered on the cruise ship. This staying in hostels business will take some getting used to. The hostel had a very laid back atmosphere. We talked to a girl from Montreal a bit, but other than that we pretty much kept to ourselves. Our hostel owner's name was Hugo. He is originally from Chile and is very nice. Even though check out time is at 11:00 am, we were allowed to come back after that to use any of the common areas (computer, shower, living room). We were able to leave our big bags there while we were on our tour. Since our train didn't leave until 9:30pm, we went back to the hostel after our tour.
We woke up at 7am to get ready for the tour that we had booked in advance. We visited Montsurrat (Mountain). It is a uniquely shaped mountain due to the fact that 10 million years ago it was under water. The water had a very interesting erosion effect on it. It is made of a bunch of small rocks
compressed and held together with natural cement (sedimentary rocks). The bus ride from Barcelona took an hour. Our tour guide was named Jordi (George in English) and he was very knowledgeable. He did the tour in both Spanish and English (saying the exact same thing in each language). When we got there he talked for a bit about the place and then gave his opinion on what people should do and in what order. We did follow his advice which was to first take the train up to St. Joan's (John's) peak. We hiked up to almost the top of the peak (before it became too steep) and started to hike up to St. Jeroni's (Jerome's) peak - the summit of the mountain before we ran out of time. We spent so long hiking that we did not get to see the legendary "Black Madonna" up close. There was a mass in session and at the end of mass all the tourist pack into the Royal Basilica to see the famous boys choir sing. While we were watching the coir, we were able to use our camera zoom feature to get a look at the "Black Madonna", which was located
MontsurratOur bus took us from the bottom of the mountain up to the monestary which was about 2/3 of the way up the mountain. We drove on a road with many sharp turns. This is the view we saw when we were let
... [more]high above the alter on a balcony. The line to see it up close was too long because according to the local legend, if you touch the hand of the "Black Madonna" your marriage will last forever. There was even a young bride in her dress there to touch the hand of the "Black Madonna". After the choir finished we ran for our bus. Once seated we ate some cereal we got from the ship and listened to more information on the mountain as we drove around the backside of it. We learned that the entire mountain is protected as a National Park. When we were back on the main road, Jordi made another suggestion-to take a siesta (which we did).
On the way back to the hostel, we stopped for lunch at a cafe and had burgers and fries. At the hostel we once again took advantage of the free internet. We researched how to get to the train station and contacted Erick to confirm details of our arrival at Almuñécar. After using the computer, Christine salsa danced with Hugo since he is a self-acclaimed dance teacher. We picked up and left for the train station around 8pm.
MontsurratIn the center of this photo, is the funicular (tram) that goes up and down the track. It was incredibly steep. The car was built on an angle so that it could travel up and down more or less like an
... [more]The following things went wrong at the train station:
1.) We didn't know what to do with our tickets and even if they were tickets.
2.) We went to buy a quick meal, but there was no such thing.
3.) Since we have duplicated all of our paperwork in case we lose one set, we apparently gave the ticket man two of the same tickets. We had to dig to find the other set.
4.) Kim followed Christine to the pillar with the number 15. The ticket man told us to go to numero quince (15). Christine found a big pillar that had the number 15 and assumed that would be where car number 15 would stop.
5.) Car number 15 whizzed by and 31 stopped in front of them.
6.) We ran. Christine started spurting out Spanish like a natural to the security guard to figure out if we could still catch it.
7.) We continued running with our big bags.
8.) We had to stand in line to get on. We were last in line that was allegedly leaving within 1 minute. Christine got on and Kim was the only one on the platform (everyone ahead was
MontsurratNotice there are no railings. We only saw one rail which was to keep people from falling off the edge of a 1 1/2 foot wide path that had a very far drop off on the other side. The views were incredi
... [more]slow trying to get their bags up and seated. So Christine held onto Kim for dear life, prepared to drag her with the train if necessary.
9.) Getting our bags up on the overhead shelf was tons of fun. Christine stood on the seat then stood on the armrests. She then unhooked her bag and caused a huge scene trying to make it fit. Then we hoisted Kim's up and hear our stash of cheerios smush and crunch.
10.) Our dinner consisted of pringles, croissants, cookies, and hot dog rolls filled with chocolate (it is a favorite here in Spain).
11.) There was a creepy little girl that kept staring at us. We think it was because we were speaking a different language, but nonetheless uncomfortable as we tried not to stare back at her and look weird.
We stayed up talking, relaxing, and wondering how we would get the bag down. We laughed a lot and then prepared to attempt sleeping (our train was a night train from 9:30 to 8:40 am to get us from Barcelona to Granada). It eventually got darker on the train got quieter.
MontsurratKim and the beautious view from St. Jordi´s path.
MontsurratWe found this remote chapel along our path. Hermits used it centuries ago. It does not aappear to be used anymore.
MontsurratOk everyone. Now tilt your head to the left. We call this ¨Buttcrack Peak¨. God surely has a sense of humor.
MontsurratThis was a trecherously steep stairway that we climbed and more or less slid down. That was the highest we were able to climb within our time constraints.
MontsurratWe quickly had to ditch our fleece coats as it became warm and we accended higher and higher up the steep mountain. The drop off behind Christine is about 1,000 meters.
MonasteryThe monks have paid for the complete construction of the area. They charge 20 Euro for a bus to park in their lot. They get 2 million visitors per year.
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