Blogs from Monistrol de Montserrat, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe

OCTOBER 30, 2019 Since we hadn’t bought coffee for our coffee maker we decided to go for an early morning walk before today’s tour to look for a nice cafe. Cafe Zurich must have been calling us. We sat outside at a little table near Plaza Catalonia watching the city come alive, feeling very European and tres chic all while enjoying great coffees and to die for pastries. A little Switzerland in Spain? You bet. It was later in the morning so we did not suffer the lines of the Coffee Rush. Our waiter brought our Trenza and Muffin Xocolata pastries and coffees to the table. Yes, it took a little time, but nothing to complain about, we were on vacation soaking up the atmosphere, the reason we came here! At 10am we met our van ... read more

Another beautiful day in Barcelona. Kate arrived this morning (after her overnight bus trip) ready to go on our "Montserrat, Tapas & Wine Tasting" tour. This started in Plaza Catalunya where we met our guide for the day - Xavi, and the rest of our group (including Justin from Chigago!) Then a bus ride to Monistrol (about an hour north west from Barcelona), with interesting commentary along the way (we were told that we were on the 1/2 day tour (10 to 5.30, as opposed to the full day tour 10 to 7.30??)) where we caught the cogwheel train up the mountain to Montserrat. (I chose a tour that included the train, as a friend from work had told me how good it was - she failed to mention that the train goes up the side ... read more

With my sister, cousin and friend we rented a car at the airport of Barcelona, where from you more or less have the highway straight to Montserrat. It is an easy drive on around an hour and we arrived around 10 - but this was a horrible time to arrive at the monastery which is super touristy. It was full of big tourist busses with Asians with big cameras, so after having a quick look (the view is very nice up there) we decided to go back a bit to a parking lot we found that only cost 4 euros for the whole day. Here we got a map and a tip for a good hiking route. We started off hitting the small trails in the hot sun, but we had a lot of fun. The ... read more

Arriving from Tarragona by train, we had decided to base ourselves in Castelldefels. Not, because this is the little town where Lionel Messi lives (somewhere in a big hidden villa) and definitely not, because it is a must see in Spain. The simple reason was that in Europe it was a long spring weekend. So literally everyone was off for a city trip to Barcelona whith skyrocking prices for accomodation and food. Castelldefels is a beach town south of the airport of Barcelona and one can reach Barcelona CBD by metro within 20 minutes. And accomodation is half price compared to Barcelona. So we checked in a little, simple hotel. It was nothing special, but OK considering we only passed time in the room while sleeping. Castelldefels has a surprisingly nice and huge beach. The water ... read more

Hola! This week new classes started and while language classes stay the same, my culture classes are now Spanish Modern and Contemporary Art and Hispoamerica Culture through literature art and painting, and we get to go on a field trip tomorrow! Field trips, siestas, beaches and sangria? This just might be paradise! After travelling around the past couple weeks, I decided to take and easy weekend and enjoy Barcelona and take a trip to nearby Montserrat! This is an area built into the mountains with a lot of religious and catalan historical value. When Nepolian found the town, he destroyed it and once the people started to rebuild Franco put the laws that rejected Cataluynian culture into affect and the project was postponed. Franco's death fueled the reconstruction and rebirth to this amazing landscape, which is ... read more