I am SO SORRY that I haven't been updating my blog as regularly as I did while on the Camino. We have fallen in love with Barcelona and spend our days seeing all this city has to offer. By the time I get back to our current residence, I'm so exhausted (plus the Internet is horrible here) and I just want to drink a glass of wine and fall asleep! We have seen many of the sites and soaked up lots of rays on the beach. It has been fabulous to say the least.
We have explored most of Gaudí's architecture that is spread throughout the city, including:
Parc Güell
Palau Güell
La Sagrada Família
And Casa Milá
We still plan on seeing the inside of Casa Batlló before we leave.
When I came to Barcelona in 2009, I fell in love with Gaudí. I have enjoyed getting to see all of his architecture again and have extra time to look around each place.
We have gone on several walks around the neighborhoods in the Old City. Excaping the hoards of tourists is always a welcome experience.
The beach has been Abe's favorite. You see several half naked ladies each time you go, but the nakedness isn't sexual and makes the beach unique.
Today we went on a day trip to Montserrat. Montserrat is a mountain range that is about 45 minutes away from downtown Barcelona. High up on a serrated hill is a monastery that was built long ago, and now this monastery is a popular tourist spot. Apparently some shepherds/farmers saw a beam of light on the mountain and traved to where the beam was. There they found a sculpture of the Virgin and Child (these can be found all over Europe, and every church has about 10) but this was different from all the others they had seen. The face and hands were a black color. They now refer to this Virgin as "The Little Dark One" (not sure this is completly PC but we will go with it, haha).
To get to Monserrat, you have to take a small train (cue instant motion sickness) to an even smaller cable car. I'm pretty terrified of heights but I faced my fear to go up the mountain (going down was much more scary).
The ride up the hill was totally worth the amazing views that awaited us.
We watched a breif movie about the history of the mountain and then went into the monastery where we saw the Black Virgin. You are allowed to touch an orb in her hand but the line had to be at least 4 hours long. Instead, we decided to take these fun little funiculars up to several hiking trails. Being back on a trial, walking around, and using our muscles felt fantastic. Abe and I both agreed that these short hikes made us miss the Camino even more.
We have four more days left to enjoy Barcelona before getting on a plane and going home to Kentucky. Pretty sad, but I'm also really excited to see our friends and families (and Olive) after such a long time away from home!!
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