Our day at Montserrat started relatively early (Spanish time) as we planned to catch the 9.36 train, meaning we needed to catch the Metro in plenty of time to allow us to locate the overland train. In reality it was very simple and were waiting along with many, many others to board when the train pulled into the station. It was just as well we were a lot earlier than we had planned as the train was more than full, with many having to stand for most of the 50 km journey.
We had elected to purchase the TOT (or total) ticket, which included Metro, train, rack railway up to the Monastery, Funicular to the peak of Mt St Joan and most importantly lunch. Well it was a busy day all around and we thought that it would be a good idea to go up the funicular first (on the assumption that most people would look around the Monastery etc. and the local stalls set up. Not sure whether we got it right as there we hundreds up the top and we missed 2 return trips - once by less than 1 minute and the other by being 6 behind the cut-off for the full funicular.
All in all it was a fantastic experience and the extra delay was a minor glitch. When we got down to the Monastery we decided that we should get our lunch and the restaurant was at the far end of the village. We had assumed the "self serve" lunch would be rolls or something, but no - it was 2 big plates of almost anything you could think of PLUS dessert and a drink. Certainly well over-filled.
After lunch we went to the Monastery, audiovisual presentation and the museum (all included in our ticket). Great, but, the museum turned out to be more art works almost identical to what we saw yesterday. Naughty me though, I had taken photos of the paintings at the National Art Gallery, where there was a restriction on using a flash. I assumed it was the same here and happily snapped away, until I saw a sign saying "No photos permitted" or something similar. Given that all the rooms had CCTV, I was luckily that the burly & grumpy security guards did not take my camera from me.
Before we knew it, it was time to get down the mountain and back to Barcelona. Vivian had a little rest when we got back and
Lynne & Ivan decided to do their own thing for dinner, given the size of
Iunch. So about 8.00 we went out and walled La Rambla in the evening. It was like a mad house when we walked up, but a bit quieter when coming back. Despite the reputation, felt relatively safe but was a bit mm ore scary on the way back to our part of Barcelona. Even though we were walking past the maim Police Station.
Forgot to mention that we also checked out the Gothic Centre and the Cathedral, which surprisingly was still open. As we walked in, we were surprised by the number of people facing the back of the building. We soon established the reason - it has the largest rose window in the world 10 metres of it. It was magnificent, particularly given the dark background and the glowing stained glass.
Had a pizza at the bar next door and soon to bed. Have really enjoyed our last day in Barcelona. Tomorrow is the start of the next phase of our holiday - the mighty Royal Princess.
Note: photos will be added at a later time, when we have better internet connection.
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