Barcelona

Four days were spent in the area exploring the city and Montserrat.

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I tried to make today a lazy day. It didn't involve physical exertion, but I did end up sightseeing on the Tourist hop-on-hop-off bus of Barcelona.

Laundry took number one priority. The laundromat a block away was most convenient. I ended up meeting a Canadian from Quebec, a Mexican national with a green card living in Kansas City Missouri, and a Spanish lady washing her bedding who couldn't speak any English. At times the conversation was four-way as we all helped each other out.

No many photos were acquired as the perspective from the bus, although unique, didn't allow for the best framing always.

I stumbled across a couple of places. One was an art small modern art museum. I found the works intriguing. The second place was the Maritime museum in the ancient ship building yard of the city. I learned much including being fascinated by a kind of vessel used in the 16th century with a combination of slave rowers and sails. The museum, well worth the 10€, provided a fresh perspective on the history of boats and trade in the 13th to 19th centuries.

Exiting the tour bus one stop before where I'd boarded sent me walking by the Museu Maritim de Barcelona (Maritime Museum). The boats in the window caught my eye, but it was the pride of the museum replica galleon vessel that set the anchor. The museum is housed a ship building facility that stretches back to about the 12th century. The galleon on display is patterned after a vessel made in the 16th century. Two hundred plus slave rowers on 59 180kg oars powered it at 2knots. The slaves rowed, slept, ate, and defalcated right where they sat for up to 10 years. Once sail technology improved these types of vessels were abandoned by the 18th century as having a limited cargo capacity and requiring too many people to operate it. The museum as a whole provided information I'd not seen before making me pleased I'd entered on a whim.

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The alarm shattered my sleep at 6AM. The trek for today would take me to the mountain monastery of Montserrat about 24 miles from Barcelona. I envisaged its popularity and wanted to be there early.

The first time teaches us. Thrown back to primary school, each day places new lessons on the chalk board for me.

The first leg of the trek took me on the Metro a few stops to Placa Espanya. Here I expected to purchase a combination ticket for the train and cable car to the monastery. The information booth I took as the ticket office was closed when I arrived - yup I was early! Outside of the Metro on the street even the coffee shops had yet to open. Back in Metro after waiting I found an open coffee shop, but now was time to purchase those tickets. The nice lady at the information boot directed me to one of the yellow electronic ticket booths - really - Dorothy?!? I could have purchased the tickets earlier and now the place was filling with tourists queued to the few working machines with less then 10 minutes before departure! Flummoxed, (Which is why I'd never have made it as an astronaut.) I purchased a one-way ticket instead of a roundtrip. But, hey, I was on the train headed to Aeri de Montserrat the stop to catch the cable car.

There are five ways I can see to get to the monastery: hike up (about 2 hours), drive, geared train (special cogs for climbing as in the Alps), cable car, or helicopter. The cable car turned out to be the cheapest and most convenient as the train stopped right at the entrance to the cable car. I and about 20 of my now closest friends rode the first yellow cable car of the day to the area of the monastery high above the El Llobregat river.

While I gained my bearing and planned my next move, tour groups spontaneously formed. It felt like half were Asians. I secured a crude trail map from the information office, had a coffee and cheap (blah) pastry, and ascertained where to aim my legs. Over the next eight hours my legs carried me about 10 miles. Fortunately most of them were downhill! I did the out-n-back of the Santa Cova route with its statues depicted the life of Jesus and ending at the Santa Cova Chapel. The one of the Resurrection uniquely captures and conveys the spirit of the story by using the rock formation. Then two funicular rides, Cova and Joan, to reach toward the top for the beginning of views looking down on the Monastery. From the top of the Joan funicular I took a short walk up to look down onto the El Llobregat river and the Monastery. Turning back toward the west I took the trail passing the Sant Joan (hermitage?) and the Santa Magdalena ruin. This is one spectacular trail passing along cutout ledges and steeply climbing steps. The top afford views to the east, south, and west and a place for a picnic with a few other intrepid hikers. We were not alone though. Many climbing groups summited the various rock pinnacles in the area.

The entire mountain region of Montserrat was formed 35 million years ago when massive flash floods carried debris down a river into the adjacent sea and left the conglomerate deposits that once buried deep in the earth formed the hard rocks. It's an impressive accumulation of flood debris from my perspective.

These jagged mountains about 5km in diameter became a religious focus circa the 9th century. The exact history of the Monastery itself is uncertain but thought to begin about the 11th century. As a result of its religious importance and as a meeting place, development of transportation access has taken place. Tourism has become a dominant focus.

I came across a steep connecting trail that enabled me to continue a couple of miles onto the summit of Sant Jeroni. The precipitous drops from the windy top with its steel rails kept me holding the iphone securing. The loop return path mostly remained in the shade of trees along a dusty dry water course. Closer to the Monastery the trail turned to steps working their way down the narrow chasm. I was definitely glad I was coming back this way!

The camelback needed refilling at the Monastery. Instead of taking the train or cable car back down to the return train to Barcelona, I decided to hike down to the town of Monistrol de Monastery. Impressed, I passed four people running the 1.5 mile/1000ft elevation change trail up and down! The train from Monistrol de Monastery to barcelona runs about every 30 minutes late into the evening. The trip takes an hour depositing me back in the city about 7PM.

Over the course of the day I'd walked about 10 miles.

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Perhaps a day of rest would be good, but no, I chose to walk the city from Goudi building to building. One can pay to enter some of these buildings or facilities, but I declined. The Goudi buildings viewed from the outside are: 1) Guell Palace, 2) Illa de la Discordia, 3) La Pedrera-Casa Milà, 4) Casa Puig i Cadafalch, 5) Casa Comalat, 6) Casa Vicens, and 7) La Sagrada Família (Infamous church in progress). One can buy tickets to go inside the La Sagrada Família, but must install an app to do so; it costs extra to go up the steeples. The Park Guell is where the house that Goudi lived sits; you can not see the home unless you pay to enter the park.

The day walking about the city included some notable sites. I wandered the Gothic Quarter with its narrow streets and many, many shops and restaurants. I saw part of the 4th century AC wall that encircle city. I viewed the exhibits at the Picasso Museum; his works from the late 1800's through to the beginning of his cubism works, circa late 1950, are on display providing context to the man and the development of his particular style. My dad was a big fan of Picasso's cubism style; I couldn't help but wonder how much he new and appreciated about Picasso's earlier works. I enjoyed street music near the Arc de Triomf fashioned after the Paris Arc de Triomphe.

Life in Barcelona bustles on almost every street seen during an entire day of excursion. The neighborhood laid out on a grid has corners chopped off at intersections. One purpose I heard was to improve visibility. The effect as a pedestrian means that before one arrives at the intersection one makes a 45 degree turn, walk 20 meters, then cross the street and then another 45 degree turn and 20 meters before coming back to the street one was on. The Goggle route map tries to show these little offsets. Pedestrians can't see the light status for automobiles or motorcycles like most American major cities so the practice of most people is to wait for the walk light to turn green - and sometimes this seems to take forever. Crosswalks are not painted as elsewhere with stripped lines, they are just bordered by broad dashed lines. Trees line many of the streets making for very pleasant strolling throughout the day. The people of Barcelona prefer motorcycles or mopeds over cars; you'll find loads of them parked on the street or the sidewalk. Electric scooters are also abundant and my they may go very fast while silent - be mindful! There are also lots and lots of bikes. The world feels full of young people walking the streets. The often seen style for young woman may include a bare mid-drift, eye makeup that looks Egyptian with black mascara forming a pointed triangle on the outside of the eyes, and either huge clumsy looking black boots with massive soles or oversized black and white sneakers. The young men tend sport beards. Starting with the city of Pontevedra my nose often experiences the odors of urine, bleach, or sewer smells. This theme continues in Barcelona. (I watched a cleaning person at the Monastery in Montserrat pour a bleach solution in front of a bench then scrub the area down with a broom - that helped explain where the bleach smell comes from!)

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Ambitions lay in wait for today. They kept laying laying laying there. The exertions of the last two days along with the falling behind in posting whispered rest. The morning with its cup of coffee made in the hotel room rose slowly like the sounds from the street below. Photos got reviewed, edited, and posted. Then a walk to 4 Cats restaurant where Picasso supposedly conversed with others for lunch. Of course in Spain activities start at a later hour so a couple hours needed filling before lunch. I found and purchased some shoes to augment the hiking boots as that was the plan all along.

The meal at 4 Cats turned out as the most upscale since my arrival. The food tasted good though not noteworthy. The service did excel and was appreciated. A group of about 25 secondary students having visited the nearby Picasso museum were there; I wondered what program supported paying for the mildly expensive lunches.

Leaving I walked westward and found myself only a short distance from the Placa de Catalunya. Excursions the last couple of days had brought me to, through, or near this place. On top of that, one of the streets coming into the plaza is La Rambla only a couple of blocks from my hotel on the east end of the street. So after four days in Barcelona some elements began to feel familiar and Google maps could be set aside.

Once I reached my hotel room, I collapsed for a long nap.