Son-in-law Will reminded us to visit Montserrat, a beautiful serrated mountain and abbey near Barcelona. We visited it the day we finally left Barcelona, tarried a bit, and then headed on to Madrid and the Prado. Traditionally, Montserrat was identified with its Benedictine abbey, and according to lore, including Wagner as I recall, the site of The Holy Grail. According to Python, it was elsewhere, but that's another story. In any case, in our times of leisure and recreation, Montserrat is as much a scenic and recreational destination, honey-combed with hiking trails. We didn't do any hiking this visit--Barcelona wore our legs out--but may well some other time.
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| It was enough of a hike from the parking lot to the abbey |
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View from where we parked; those are the snowy Pyrenees
in the distance |
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| Setting of the abbey |
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| Funicular Not Taken |
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The whole massif is a pinkish conglomerate,
the giant spires of which gave rise to lewd
comments by certain members of our party |
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| From the square before the abbey church |
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Looking back to the valley below; the road up to the abbey
was quite good, easily wide enough for passing tour buses |
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| More of the interesting formations |
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Ditto; we saw many hikers and many trail-heads; the whole
is a national park, indeed, Spain's first national park |
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| Ditto, now driving on toward Madrid |
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| Ditto again |
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| And again |
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