The Sun Sets on a Spanish Sojourn

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It’s 11.30pm in Barcelona and today sadly is my last day in Barcelona and my last day in Spain. At lunchtime tomorrow I fly out from here to London for the last four days of my holiday.

Today has been a lengthy one. It started very early (just after 730am) when I went searching for a coffee in nearby Gran Via. It was then on to the Bus Turistic for the trip to the Torres Vineyards, Montserrat and Sitgues.

First stop was the famous Torres Winery (Bodegas Torres), where we discovered how the famous Torres wine is made. We continued onto the Benedictine Monastery of Montserrat, founded in the 11th century. The Montserrat Mountains provide a mystical backdrop for the Virgin of Montserrat, the patron saint of Catalonia, who is worshiped at the shrine in the monastery's Royal Basilica.

We rode to the top of the mountain on the rack railway for the expected panoramic views alas the weather had closed in and the views were far from panoramic. A great treat was the school choir of Montserrat (Escolania of Montserrat) singing in the Basilica. Every day they sing to the tourists and locals.

After the trip to Montserrat we headed for the coastal town of Sitgues, which was a meeting place for Modernist writers, musicians, critics, sculptors and painters in the 1980s, and was called the Mecca of Modernism. It was formerly a fishing village where the returning immigrants from the Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico and Cuba (who were nicknamed los Americanos) returned and built incredibly beautiful mansions in the town with their new found wealth.

We arrived just before dusk and I did manage to get a few photos before the light was gone completely. This place is very much seen as a weekend retreat for the people of Barcelona and many other cities in Europe. It’s very expensive but very beautiful

On our return to Barcelona I rushed back to the hotel and met Sonia my Spanish Tutor. We went out for a final bite of tapas visiting a fantastic bar called Sucoa - we had some quite brilliant seafood, some delicious croquetas washed down with a nice white wine.

It was great catching up with Sonia, she is an excellent tutor and I really do miss her hard-core lessons, there is no way English is spoken when you are spending time her her!.

Anyway it’s now close to midnight and time to wrap up here. I'll probably do a little bit of shopping in the morning and have one last look at some of the places around Barcelona before heading to the airport.

London's calling.

Adios from Spain and I'm sure I will return one day very soon.

PS: I'll add more photos of Monsterrat when I get the chance.

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Photos

The coastal retreat of Sitgues
Dusk had arrived and the pinkish hue of the sunset presented a great ending to the day

Chris and Sonia outside Casa Batllo
Atoni Gaudi left a lasting impression on the city of Barcelona. His influence can be seen all over this city and across Catalunya. Apologies for the light our quickly negotiated photographer wasnt as professional with his photo taking as I had hoped!

Stalls in la Rambla
One of many flower stalls in the centre of la Rambla, they add great colour to the vibrancy of this most famous avenue

Inside Boqueria
At the entrance to the Mercat Boqueria, possibly the most famous fresh food market in the world

Mushrooms
There are literally small mountains of mushrooms available in la Boqueria

The ever-present jamon
As always jamon is on offer

Torres Storage
Underneath the Torres Vineyard is the storage area. There are four tunnels each 500m long, filled with the casks of different Torres varieties

Outside the Vineyard
With my purchases made, it was back on the bus and onto Monsterrat

This was not in the brochure!
Sadly our view up the rack railway was obscured by heavy cloud

Montserrat
The sky cleared for about 30 seconds to allow this photo to be taken looking back towards the Basilica