Out of town to Monserrat

A leisurely start after yesterday's epic with a very good healthy breakfast. Then we were headed for Monserrat, soon seeing the remarkable rocky range that is higher than it first looks. Up to the monastery by car then to the church where there were a lot of people especially queuing to see the black madonna high up at the front. There was a short prayer service at 1 with the priest trying to get us singing to words that were unknown to most, and turned out to be a hymn that is also a Catalan patriotic song. He and the organist were the two leaders, and most visitors were clearly not Catalan.

We ate Matt's prepared packed lunch, and then headed off up the mountain, eventually to the summit of Sant Jeroni 525 metres above the monastery. Conditions were excellent though chilly higher up where there was a 360deg view, just about seeing the coast that is promised on a good day as also allegedly the Pyrenees. Pretty steep for a speedy descent, but our legs survived, and we returned by car to Barcelona where we had a quick look at the beach before parking the car and visiting the supermarket. Then it was up the 5 floors to a fine meal that Matt had soon got together, and a quiet evening while Merce had Arabic to get on with for tomorrow's class.

A bit of emailing, Facebook and a shower before getting down to the record of the day.