Hitting the Cobblestone at Montserrat

 

One of our tours took us to Monserrat Monastery

This is a 1000 year old Monastery built in the jagged mountains.

 Santa Maria de Montserrat is an abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict located on the mountain of Montserrat in Monistrol de Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain. 

This video shows you a better perspective of how incredible

 this Monastery

 is

nestled on the side of the mountain. 

It is now a boys school as well

and

 the choir sings for the public for 10 minutes each day in the Chapel

We took the funicular train up the mountain to get a fabulous view of the area. 

It was so beautiful. 

At the end of the day,

 we met back up with our tour guide to head back to Barcelona....

She said... Where were you two???

We had ditched the group.

She had a German accent 

and

 was translating all we saw in three languages

Catalonia, English and Spanish

By the time she got to back to English, 

we didn't even realize she was speaking to us! 

Note to self.... all tours need to be booked in your own language! 

It was a waste of 2/3 of our day on that tour! 

We were long gone by what she was translating

 by

 the time she got to English! 

On our way home from supper that night, 

I was admiring these strappy little sandals.

My everything was hurting at this point. 

They were  1050 Euros... 

At that price,

 I expect them to be magic slippers and do the walking for me!

Then I spotted this little jigger waiting for his momma to be finished shopping

If Arnold's back pack looked that comfy I would have done the same! 

Christa 

Barcelona…. Baby!

Wow... I can't believe it's been months since I last blogged.

To say our summer was crazy busy is an understatement!!

Haying was amazing 

and

harvest was one of our best year's with the prices of grain still good! 

A couple weeks before harvest was over,

 we decided to join Arnold's sister, Anita and Bill on a trip to Italy! 

We left on October 10th and had a full day of layover in Toronto, Ontario.

Our friends, Terri and Bill Poll came to pick us up and tour Niagara Falls

The US and Canadian side...

The Fall colors were just starting! 

Thought this shot was pretty cool as we were landing! 

We got on our next plane at 9:30 pm 

and

were off to Barcelona, Spain! 

I can't even start to tell you how many times I said WOW.

WOW.. 2 million people in one city! 

All of Saskatchewan has a little over 1 million in all of our province!! 

This circle building was the last used Bull fighting ring in Barcelona

and 

is now a shopping mall with a walking track on top. 

The last bull fighting was in the 1990's

I loved all the textural cobblestone

(not walking on it...just looking at it)

So much pattern inspiration for me! 

The buildings were INCREDIBLE! 

Churches, 

Cathedrals...

Our guide was disgusted with the advertising on the Cathedral

but

money talks and pays for maintenance! 

Barcelona has graffitti EVERYWHERE

These are truly artists with a spray can! 

We walked 12-20000 steps everyday doing tours of Barcelona

Montjuic...Highest point over Barcelona

The cable car on Montjuic was a nice break

 to

 take in the spectacular views of Barcelona

My knees are still in recovery! 

Every thing is so ornate and sculpted in Spain

My favorite tour by far was Sagrada Familia

This is still a work in progress.

There will be 18 towers when they are finished.

The stain glass inside represented the seasons with the colors as they shone in

The roof line was angled to create this amazing blend of color

It was spectacular! 

The people were so well dressed. 

I noticed they didn't wear prints. 

Lots of fine linens and high quality fabrics. 

I felt like a Walmart greeter...

I loved this little ensemble in the shop window....

The shoe backs already came presquished!! 

(and they were not cheap!)

You can imagine the amount of water we drank....

Humidity was high and we walked till we dropped each day.

Bathrooms were far and few between,

Arnold always got a kick out of telling me he put the lid down for me....

There never was a lid!!! 

But I guess it beat this option!! 

The adventure continues!! 

Christa