Up the way to that monastery mate

New Aussie friends. This is what travel is all about. Making new friends.

Decided to go see what the hoopla was all about with Montserrat yesterday. A monastery located in the town close to Manresa, Spain which is still in the same Catalan province as Barcelona. Finding the right train to take you to Monserrat was a challenge in itself and took me about 40-50mins. Plaza Espanya is quite a big underground train station with few English speaking employees. Only way to find it was to ask the locals several times until you get someone who can help. Succeeded in the end.

Only an hour train ride from Barcelona costing 17.10 Euros. The cable car was out of service that day so I had to take another train once I made it to the base of the mountain. Despite that it was scenic going up. It just started snowing when we got up and this added a nice touch to the experience.

Met some nice Aussies on the train who I ended up hanging out with all day. All three have been traveling Europe for approx 2 months. Good people. They invited me to Australia so maybe in the near future I have to accept that offer. I extended the offer back to them as well.

The monastery is called the Santa Maria de Montserrat. With according to legend holds the Holy Grail....

Courtyard to the monastery

The place had a moderate amount of Christian paintings, sculptures, and history (including the tomb of a bishop?) without giving you a sensory overload. Most of the writing were Spanish/Catalunyan so interpreting the descriptions were challenging or impossible at best for the Aussies and I. For the scenic ride, making new friends, and enjoying the arts of this adventure it was worth the 17 Euros I paid.   

Tomorrow visit the Picasso museum.