Our excursion the first day was a bus tour of Barcelona & then we went to Montserrat, home of the Black Madonna & the St. Benedictine Monastery. It was pouring down rain. They say it only rains 60 days a year in Barcelona....& we think that most of it is in April! It was foggy as we started up the narrow curvy mountain road. The fog lifted a little and then got worse as we were going into the Bascilica. The boys choir sings twice a day when the boarding school is in session & we were fortunate to get to see them. There has been a boy's choir at the monastery since 1223.
The Black Madonna is the patron saint of Catalonia. The legend is that the Madonna was carved from wood & brought to Spain in the 700's. Today it serves as a shrine for Catalonia.
We had a delicious typical Catalonian lunch of pasta, chicken, cake accompanied by wine from the monatary. By the time lunch was over, the fog had lifted & the sun was starting to come out. We had a beautiful drive through the mountains on our way back to Barcelona. We continued our tour and finished with a walk on Las Rambles known for its shops & restaurants.
For our second day in Barcelona, we decided to take the Red Bus hop on hop off tours. It was a great way to get a bird's eye view of the city....although you had to be careful of the tree branches & leaves on occasion. We decided to only "hop off" at the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Church designed by Antonio Gaudi. There was a 5 hour wait to go inside but it was interesting to see the outside. The structure was started in 1883 & is still under construction.
Barcelona is the capital of the Catalunya. It has its own language, history & culture separate from that
of Spain. The language is a mix of Provençal French & Castilian Spanish.
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