A little sleep-in this morning as we didn’t need to be at our first stop until 9:45am. First up was La Pedrera (formally known as Casa Mila), the last private residence designed by Gaudi. We started our tour with an immersive VR experience which enabled us to learn about Gaudi’s inspiration, the commission, the first owners and the stories of La Pedrera.
We then continued our tour through the show apartment on the fourth floor which recreates the home of a bourgeois family in Barcelona in the opening 30 years or so of the 20th century. We also saw the courtyards, the huge “whale attic” and the Warrior Rooftop.
We went back to the apartment to drop off the photos we had brought and then got the Metro to Placa d’Espanya where we needed to purchase our train tickets to Montserrat. Once we had worked that out, we had a good 50 minutes before the train departed so we went for a wander and found somewhere for some lunch.
Back at the train station we boarded the train and relaxed for the next hour until our train arrived at Aeri de Montserrat. There was a bit of a queue to wait for the cable car to take us up the mountain to Montserrat so we waited for our turn and then boarded the cable car which held up to 32 people. It is a 5 minute journey which offers breathtaking views of Montserrat.
Montserrat is a rocky mountain range with a Benedictine Monastery, Santa Maria de Montserrat, sitting atop it. When we arrived we wandered up to have a look around. It was a lot bigger than I had been expecting. We went to the Basilica first and had a look around and sat for a while. We didn’t go and see the Black Madonna (also called the Black Virgin of Montserrat, Our Lady of Montserrat and La Moreneta) up close as the queue was quite long but we could still see her from the floor of the Basilica.
We had a look through the village at some of the shops and then walked down to where there were views back towards Barcelona (although due to the mountain ranges you can’t actually see Barcelona) and of the Montserrat mountains.
We had some time to waste before the next train home so got an ice-cream and relaxed a while before getting the cable car back down, and then the train home. The train was very busy so we had to wait until seats became available (or in TJ’s case he had to stand the whole way).
We had a wee rest when we got home before walking into the Old Town for dinner at Bodega La Puntual, a tapas restaurant. Once we had deciphered the menu we placed our orders and very quickly food started appearing. The service certainly wasn’t slow. The food was delicious and enjoyed by everyone. We walked home via a gelato store and La Rambla (Barcelona’s best known street).
