Barcelona, Day Four

Day four was by far my favorite day in Barcelona. It began with a tour of Montserrat. “Serrated Mountain,” as it is called in English, is in the heart of Catalonia (the region Barcelona is a part of) and has been important to the culture of Catalonia for a long time. There has been a church there since the Black Madonna was found there in the ninth century. I can barely even conceive that length of time.

The drive there was beautiful (if terrifying), and the site of the basilica was beautiful beyond words.

We arrived during a service. The hymns were in Spanish, but beautiful even though I didn’t know what they said. That basilica is the most beautiful I’ve ever been in—which I think is saying something, considering I’ve seen St. Paul’s, St. Peter’s, and a dozen other churches this semester alone.

Montserrat from a distance. Somewhere in that cliffside I saw the Vulcan sign for "Live Long and Prosper." :)

 Interesting side-note: there is a Catalan idiom, “To do one’s Americas.” It means “to make one’s fortune.” This is because, in the nineteenth century, everyone in Catalonia went to the Americas as there was no work in Spain. Now, even though there isn’t much emigration to the Americas, they still use the phrase.

After returning from that tour I took a day pass on the metro and saw the rest of the sights I could see in the daylight. These were La Sagrada Familia, an incredible church designed by Gaudí (everything in Barcelona seems to have been designed by Gaudí), and Guell Park—also a Gaudí creation.

La Sagrada Familia

View from top of Parc Guell

That night I walked the harbor again, and found a lemon Fanta. Lemon Fantas are a small obsession of mine; they’re only available around the Mediterranean and they are delicious. It was a good way to top off my trip to Barcelona.