Montserrat/Palace of Catalan Music

Yesterday we visited Montserrat, which is a monastery tucked away in the Catalan coastal range. These mountains are beautiful, looking more like giant hoodoos from Utah’s Bryce Canyon NP and Goblin Valley State Parks. Montserrat literally means serrated mountains, which is how they come across, minus the jaggedness of other newer peaks who have yet to be subjected to millennia of erosion.

To get there we took a cable car that quite quickly zips you up to the monastery. It’s a little harrowing for someone who is not too fond of heights, but sometimes you just have to trust in technology. The area is really gorgeous, minus all of the touristy shops at the top. I normally do not care about touristy stuff but am always scornful to see such things in nature.

The monastery is perched a top these peaks, undoubtedly seeking solitude, isolation and peace, but we always find them don’t we:). There is actually a 27 km hike you can do in the area, which if we had more time would.

We finished our day taking in a symphony at the Palace of Catalan Music. The theater is sensationally beautiful with its purplish roof and sculptures abound. You take in this music hall the way you would a piece of art, couple that with the symphony and it’s like a massage for your mind.

Barcelona has been wonderful. I wish we had more time. Much like Mendoza, it feels like it could be home. I cannot believe how quickly our time here has passed and am hesitant to move on, but Malta here we come.Read more