More Barcelona

More Barcelona, a set on Flickr.

Another great day in Barcelona! Saw the Arc de Triomf, Parc de la Ciutadella, went for a walk through the Gothic Quarter, Gothic Cathedral, magic fountain (plays music, light, & water show) finally seeing the Torre Agbar at night before heading home. Another big day out, very hot, millions of people, lots of fun ... and of course getting wet at every water fountain we saw.

Montserrat Monastery

Montserrat Monastery , a set on Flickr.

Fantastic day hiking through the cliffs surrounding the Montserrat Monastery. Before hiking we cued to see the Black Madonna (aka black Mary with baby Jesus). It was amazing to see how many people stood in the middle of the Monastery and raised their hands to her, also all the chest crossing and touching her for healing or good luck. The Monastery is amazing with heaps of statues, views and history. I don’t really get the whole touch the statue thing ... but it was still fascinating. I can’t believe Monks! They are totally crazy building a Monastery so high up in the cliffs, it must have been such hard work even getting to the site. The Monastery is a beautiful place with spectacular views. The hiking was quite tricky in some parts the little kids did really well. In one of the photos you can see a steep rock staircase which we went up and down, and in others you can see tiny people rock climbing! Awesome day!!!
Santa Maria de Montserrat is a Benedictine abbey and basilica located in the Montserrat mountain, which is called Monistrol de Monstserrat. The site is located 38 km from Barcelona. From afar, the mountain looks very strange because of its rock formations. The monastery started as the Hermitage of Santa Maria, the Mother of Christ, in 1025. Very soon there were stories of miracles worked by St. Mary the Virgin of Montserrat, and pilgrimages started to the site. A bigger Romanesque chapel was built to be able to receive more pilgrims. It became one of the best known shrines in the Christian world and the most prestigious shrine in Catalonia. In the Napoleonic wars of 1811 and 1812, the French destroyed most of the abbey, but the statue of Our Lady was saved because it was hidden somewhere in the mountain.

Barcelona

Barcelona, a set on Flickr.

Enjoyed a hot day visiting Barcelona. We began our day at the La Sagrada Familia (Church of the Sacred Family), but didn’t go in because the cue went around the block and looked like a couple of hours wait just to get in! Next stop was the Park Guell, this was an amazing park with heaps of unusual buildings, structures made from stone, tiles and different types of walk ways. There were great views of Barcelona, it took us a few hours to get around the whole park. After the park we looked at several building that were designed and built by Antoni Gaudi (La Pedrera, Casa Batllo & the Guell Palace). All of the buildings were really different and unusual. We were all surprised by the number of scooters and bikes in Spain, they were literally everywhere. It took us all day to just scratch the surface of Barcelona, we still have a week in Spain so will be back to check out more stuff!