Great Escape Day 9

Alright. So, I’ve reached this last post on the just completed trip to Portugal, Spain, and France. If you’ve hung with me this long, then I’ve really got to question your priorities in life. I’ve enjoyed the writing because it’s given me a chance to re-engage with the memories I’d just created before they start to fade (which given the age involved, will happen). If you read the Day 8 post, then you’ll know it would be incredibly difficult to top the experience of touring the Church of the Sagrada Familia, but, the very next day, Montserrat gave it a dedicated try. Santa Maria de Montserrat is an abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict located on the mountain of Montserrat about an hour’s drive from Barcelona. One of its most important artifacts is the Virgin of Montserrat, also known as the Black Madonna. The monastery was founded in 1025 so this year marks its 1000 year birthday.

Cloudy Arrival

Most of the area around Barcelona is flat, so it was startling to all of a sudden to be climbing a very steep mountain. It was made a lot more exciting since the road is necessarily pretty narrow and there were literally dozens of buses going up and down. We encountered one coming down at one of the hairpin turns. I’m still not sure how we avoided colliding, a tribute to the skill of our driver. When we arrived in the late morning, the top of the mountain was in the clouds, which I thought would diminish the sights for us. We arrived at the Monastery and were looking down on layers of clouds. The coolest thing then happened as the clouds burned off over the next couple hours. You can see in the photos where the early ones boast a lot of the white stuff while the later ones feature a crystalline blue sky.

Arriving to Find Clouds Shrouding the Site

Wife Looking Down on Clouds

Scenes from Montserrat

Wife Caught me Exploring

Train Station

In Front of the Monastery

The monastery is located near the top of the mountain and is wedged into a crevice near the peak. Both a railway and a sky train also make their way up the mountain to the site. Once again the pictures don’t do it true justice but the views of and from the mountain were spectacular. A very small village (all they had room for) of shops and a hotel has grown up around the monastery and the attached basilica which houses the Madonna. After we made our initial walk around the village, we had free time before our scheduled time in the basilica. If you’re guessing, we spent that time shopping you would be partially correct. I’ll leave it to you to guess whether my wife or I did the shopping while the other one sat on a bench to people watch and enjoy the mountain views.

Plaza in Front of Basilica

Statue of Founding Abbot

Street up to Basilica

Lower Level Shopsd

Wife Advised Shopping was on the Agenda

The Monastery

Clouds Starting to Lift

Cute Panamanian Running Around

Clouds Gone

Photo Bombed by Irish Pub Buddy

Train Arriving

Funicular Track to the Top

In the afternoon we moved back to the basilica for our scheduled visit to the Madonna. It’s supposedly more than a thousand years old and has a reputation for miracles. Recent testing has revealed that it wasn’t originally black but soot from candles and smoky fireplaces over the past 1200 years have created the black color. We walked up a very narrow staircase for a few moments with the glass encased statue. Our daily mass was conducted by Father Matt in the adjacent chapel with the back of the statue visible above. After mass we spent come time in the massive Basilica which has the statue placed high above the main altar. It was a very moving place. I’ve included a couple of videos which hopefully will give you an idea of how special a place this is. If you ever travel to Barcelona, make sure to make time in your schedule to visit Montserrat.

Entering Basilica

Series of Small Chapels While Waiting in Line

Stairway up to Black MAdonna

Wife Venerating Black Madonna Statue

The Chapel 

Back of Black MAdonna Above

Courtyard in Front of Basilica

Inside Basilica

Getting Ready to Leave

Clouds Now Above Us

After surviving our bus ride down the mountain, we returned to Barcelona where our guide had one last treat in store for us. We visited Park Güell which is a world heritage site. It is a park of gardens and walkways that has the distinction of being designed by Gaudi (that guy again). It was originally planned as an upscale housing development on top of a hill with great views of the city. Only two houses were ever built though, including one where Gaudi himself lived. It was a remarkable place to visit. Gaudi’s signature attempts to blend his building design with nature were all around. There was a central plaza completely surrounded by a bench. Gaudi designed it to be comfortable and supportive, even though it’s made of stone. It was comfortable.

Scenes from Parc Guell

Gaudi's Home

Central Plaza

Those Benches

She'll Always Look Better

Back on the Bench

There were throngs of tourists touring the garden along with us but it was still a remarkable experience. Gaudi created a system of supporting pillars for the central plaza included a draining system through each of the pillars that is still in use to this day. He was a true visionary. My Favorite Panamanian became enthralled with a flock of parrots that descended on us as we made our way back to the bus. She created an entire story surrounding what the birds were thinking and what their personal motivations were. Gaudi brings out the whimsy in you.

Main Entrance

Central Plaza Pillars

Taking a Break

Before Meeting her Parrot Friends

We returned to the hotel for our farewell dinner, since this was our last night in Europe. The dinner was also marked by celebrating Father Matt’s birthday. The group had taken up a collection and bought a new robe for him in Lourdes. He is a great guy, and his parish is very lucky to have him. After dinner our fellow Irish Pub veterans declared that we wouldn’t let our last evening in Barcelona go quietly. One had located a jazz bar within walking distance of the hotel and we set out. We eventually found the place and as we walked up a tall young Irish lady was standing out front and started speaking in English to us. She said a jazz duo would start singing at 11pm and we should stay to see them. Just before we walked in, she revealed she was the singer in the duo.

Father Matt - Birthday Boy

Receiving his Gift

Our Guide, Jose (Orange Shirt) With Some  of hte Group

So, we walked into the Velvet Room and found ourselves as the only patrons. This initial impression bolstered our belief that the Spanish are late partiers (much like their Panamanian descendants). We were greeted by a gay, black, English dude wearing a derby hat. He was so cool and eventually revealed he was the owner. We set up at a table and enjoyed the drinks celebrating our last day in Spain. The owner came back and encouraged us to stay for the concert. The ladies at the table said that 11 would be too late. I glanced at my watch and said it was already 1040 (we were adapting to Spanish timing). When the owner heard we would stay, he moved us up to the front of the room in front of the stage where we were warmly greeted by the Irish singer and her Italian guitarist. While we were awaiting the performance the entire place had filled up. The music was worth the wait and we had a fabulous time. We were back to the hotel a little after midnight, a great send off.

Finding the Velvet Room

The Duet Warming Up

A Very Fun Table

Concert Time

Great Jazz Bar

I’ll include a small description of our final day here because there were some adventures.  We were flying TAP Air Portugal connecting through Lisbon to Boston. The Barcelona Airport is massive but not very well organized. The TAP counter didn’t open until an hour after we arrived. Jose, our guide, joked that TAP should stand for “Try Another Plane”. We eventually got ticketed and made our way though security (which is so much better organized than here in the States). We had a narrow timeframe to make our connecting flight, so there was some serious concern when our departure from Barcelona was delayed nearly fifty minutes. The fun was only starting.

Barcelona Airport - Time to Go Home

Lisbon has a small airport so when we arrived, thirty minutes before our connecting flight was schedule to depart, the entire group was antsy. The anxiety only increased when we were put on buses to ride to the terminal and then waited in those buses nearly twenty minutes to unload. My Favorite Panamanian, against my advice, volunteered to carry the bags of one of our fellow travelers. Of course, that person got on a separate bus and we got to passport control and had to wait for this other person to show up. Meanwhile I was staring daggers at my spouse for her kindness. I asked members of the group to try and hold up the Boston flight for us. We eventually linked up with the lady, who’s passport was in the bags my wife was carrying, and made it through to the terminal. The flight had been delayed (thankfully) so we made it to Boston that night around 8:30 and were home by 11pm. Of course, our body clocks thought it was 5am so we were fairly tired, but nothing could take the shine off the trip that I went along with for my wife but had turned into something very special for me as well. Thanks for hanging this long with me as I have tried to capture what was involved.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete – my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course