While staying in Barcelona, we took a day trip to hike Montserrat, a mountain north of Barcelona. For many visitors, this trip is a pilgrimage to the monastery that sits atop the mountain, but we were solely going for the hike and the vistas.
The train to Montserrat was so crowded that we were standing during the entire one-hour ride. To reach the trailhead, we walked through a narrow residential street lined by balconied apartments. In front of us was a couple walking their dog, and that set off "alarms". Meaning, every dog living on that street rushed to their balcony and barked at the intruder below. It was actually really funny, and we could still hear the “alarm system” even after reaching the trailhead.
The hike itself was about 5.5 km. (Most visitors take a cable car and then a funicular to the top of the mountain. That's how steep it is.) We chose the shorter, more challenging path and were scrambling over rocks and walking up dirt paths, zigzagging up the mountain and taking photos of the stunning views.
The toughest part of the climb was the sidewalk leading up to the monastery, which felt like a 45-degree incline! By the time we reached the top, the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler but we were drenched in sweat and grateful for god’s refrigeration. We did not visit the monastery itself (also because Dale was wearing his Pastafarian t-shirt in protest). We did visit the market stalls where vendors sold homemade foods and crafts, and visited a sculpture called "Stairway to Heaven" that is now fenced off from visitors due to safety concerns when visitors climbed it.
Starving from the hike, the only option for lunch was a buffet. Neither of us has much self-control when it comes to eating, plus we’re cheap, so we gorged on mediocre cafeteria food and challenged each other to make sure each was eating 17-Euros worth.
Because we ate our weight in fries and cake, we decided to walk down the mountain rather than ride the cable car or funicular. The walk down was much easier. Plus, behind us was a really boisterous group of tweens and their 2 beleaguered chaperones, careening down the hill, screaming and occasionally singing songs in unison. We were sufficiently motivated to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and this horde of hormones, and scrambled back to the train station. The train ride back to Barcelona was packed too. And, because we didn’t have correct change to buy a metro ticket from the Barcelona train station to our hotel, we walked another 30 minutes from the train station home. Good thing we had 17 Euros worth of crap food to fuel the day!
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