Barcelona V (part a)
Day 5 (Friday)
Day out to Montserrat. These are holy mountains where some people a long long time ago were supposed to have seen the Virgin Mary (or something like that). These mountains rise over a thousand metres above sea level. The train ride there was uneventful, but magnificent views started to take shape when we transferred to the rack railway up the mountain. This brought us up to around 700metres. Two funiculars, one running downwards (Santa Cova) and the other running upwards (San Joan) to the peak, ran from here. We first went down and followed the sculptures which depicted the story in the bible, on a path that led to a chapel of the Virgin Mary. It seems that people the world over come here to request a favour from the Virgin, and when that has been granted, they return with a gift or token of thanks. There was also a book (I think for thanks) on which I wrote a simple wish with my numb fingers and which I took a picture of with my phone camera.
We returned upwards to arrive in time for the 1pm boy’s choir performance at the basilica (monastery). I recorded 4 audio clips of the singing. We took a short walk around the place and a few sights of the mountainsides. This whole mountain excursion had a very good feel to it. It was something that I was interested in doing… to trek along mountainous walks and take in the views. Nature… untouched scenery…Elation. A pity that Siew Lee wasn’t that athletic and we had to skip a short distance of exploration the other way. Felt like the time I was in Edinburgh and they didn’t want to go up to Arthur’s Seat (an extinct volcano). Well I’ll go back to climb that, but maybe not this.
The peak was warmer than I had expected. I removed my jacket and walked around. We didn’t have much time to waste though as we had to catch the train back and get ready for our flight. Lots of pictures once again, but it was also here that Nazimah’s new camera (Canon IXUS I!!!) started to malfunction. What a waste… But anyway two of us still had digital cameras with enough memory.
Our final destination was near Plaza Tetuan for the airport bus. Since we had 2 more metro tickets left (something like the Carnet system in London) we decided that two of us would walk (I didn’t want to give up the chance to see the town) while the other two would take the metro. So Nazimah would walk with me. I circled the location of the bus stop on my map, and passed Joanne my copy of the printed map of the bus stop for her to refer to. I couldn’t go wrong, so I wasn’t going to take a chance on them getting lost. Off we went, and when we got on the bus the two of them were not even there yet! Suddenly the bus started moving! It was supposed to start at half six, and it was only 6.20pm. I went to the front and spoke to the driver who couldn’t understand much English (and certainly didn’t peak english) requesting to get off, but he was having none of it. Finally a passenger informed us that the bus was actually the 6 o’clock one, and it had been late. They should have told us from the start, but in all fairness we had not checked beforehand. I merely confirmed that the bus was going to Girona Airport. I remembered that Joanne’s phone had run out of battery, so I was more anxious to get down, but anyway I was sure they could check their phone one way or another, or end up at the airport anyhow. So we each sent a message to her to make sure (Nazimah’s phone battery was flat too, so I put her SIM card into my phone).
I had a good discussion with Nazimah while on the way to the airport about everything under the sun. We waited up for them near the entrance to the airport, and they did arrive and did actually get my message. They had got lost coming out from the Metro and so were late. They were worried (naturally) about us but in the end Joanne borrowed a British traveller’s phone to call us, and that’s when she finally read my text.
Day out to Montserrat. These are holy mountains where some people a long long time ago were supposed to have seen the Virgin Mary (or something like that). These mountains rise over a thousand metres above sea level. The train ride there was uneventful, but magnificent views started to take shape when we transferred to the rack railway up the mountain. This brought us up to around 700metres. Two funiculars, one running downwards (Santa Cova) and the other running upwards (San Joan) to the peak, ran from here. We first went down and followed the sculptures which depicted the story in the bible, on a path that led to a chapel of the Virgin Mary. It seems that people the world over come here to request a favour from the Virgin, and when that has been granted, they return with a gift or token of thanks. There was also a book (I think for thanks) on which I wrote a simple wish with my numb fingers and which I took a picture of with my phone camera.
We returned upwards to arrive in time for the 1pm boy’s choir performance at the basilica (monastery). I recorded 4 audio clips of the singing. We took a short walk around the place and a few sights of the mountainsides. This whole mountain excursion had a very good feel to it. It was something that I was interested in doing… to trek along mountainous walks and take in the views. Nature… untouched scenery…Elation. A pity that Siew Lee wasn’t that athletic and we had to skip a short distance of exploration the other way. Felt like the time I was in Edinburgh and they didn’t want to go up to Arthur’s Seat (an extinct volcano). Well I’ll go back to climb that, but maybe not this.
The peak was warmer than I had expected. I removed my jacket and walked around. We didn’t have much time to waste though as we had to catch the train back and get ready for our flight. Lots of pictures once again, but it was also here that Nazimah’s new camera (Canon IXUS I!!!) started to malfunction. What a waste… But anyway two of us still had digital cameras with enough memory.
Our final destination was near Plaza Tetuan for the airport bus. Since we had 2 more metro tickets left (something like the Carnet system in London) we decided that two of us would walk (I didn’t want to give up the chance to see the town) while the other two would take the metro. So Nazimah would walk with me. I circled the location of the bus stop on my map, and passed Joanne my copy of the printed map of the bus stop for her to refer to. I couldn’t go wrong, so I wasn’t going to take a chance on them getting lost. Off we went, and when we got on the bus the two of them were not even there yet! Suddenly the bus started moving! It was supposed to start at half six, and it was only 6.20pm. I went to the front and spoke to the driver who couldn’t understand much English (and certainly didn’t peak english) requesting to get off, but he was having none of it. Finally a passenger informed us that the bus was actually the 6 o’clock one, and it had been late. They should have told us from the start, but in all fairness we had not checked beforehand. I merely confirmed that the bus was going to Girona Airport. I remembered that Joanne’s phone had run out of battery, so I was more anxious to get down, but anyway I was sure they could check their phone one way or another, or end up at the airport anyhow. So we each sent a message to her to make sure (Nazimah’s phone battery was flat too, so I put her SIM card into my phone).
I had a good discussion with Nazimah while on the way to the airport about everything under the sun. We waited up for them near the entrance to the airport, and they did arrive and did actually get my message. They had got lost coming out from the Metro and so were late. They were worried (naturally) about us but in the end Joanne borrowed a British traveller’s phone to call us, and that’s when she finally read my text.
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4:30 am
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