The bus left the hotel in Barcelona promptly at 8am, as planned.
Soon out of Barcelona we enter mountainous terrain which continues on for the rest of the day, with stunning views all day of mountain ranges and fertile valleys. The mountains are mainly heavily eroded limestone, forming all sorts of irregular shapes. Apparently they provided inspiration for a lot of Gaudi's architecture, which does bear some resemblance in some of his buildings.
Our first stop is Montserrat, a famous monastery, with a large Basilica and the main attraction, the black Madonna.
Montserrat means "serrated Mountain", so it is pretty obvious how it was named
The bus has to park around 10 minutes away from the monastery, and we walked up to the entrance. We arrived at around 9.15 am, and there does not appear to be a lot of people around at this stage.
The monastery is tucked into the mountainous landscape and must have been quit a challenge to build
The cross looks a long way from the Basilica !
Walking towards the monastery from the bus
The Basilca
Once inside the Basilica, there is a long corridor along the right hand side which leads to the Black Madonna. To our dismay, it is full of people, moving slowly, very slowly! We later found out there was a Russian tour group in front of us, and it is apparently there custom to each say a little prayer in front of the Madonna rather than just take a photo and move on.
Eventually we go there, took our photo, and inspected the little chapel behind the Madonna, before leaving the Basilica.
The Black Madonna
The Chapel behind the Black Madonna
Having done the Basilica part, we now head off to walk to the Cross of St Michael, where expect the views will be very good. It is quite a steep walk and took a bit longer than advised. Probably less than half our group decided to do it, preferring to have a wander around the Art Museum instead.
The Cross of St Michael
From this lookout, we could see the foothills surrounding Barcelona, and sweeping views of the rural countryside, including the monastery.
By the time we got back to the monastery, we just had time to buy a cup of coffee, before heading back to our bus by 11.30am.
The next part of the trip is to our first Parador, for lunch. Our tour guide spends the next half hour or so telling us that this is not only a sightseeing tour, but also an appreciation of Spanish Cuisine and Wine, which will start with the coming lunch at Castell de Cordona.
The Castle is located high up on a hill overlooking Cordona, and before lunch we are given a brief tour, mainly of The Romanesque Chapel.
Our group making their way up the access road to the castle
The Castle was able to withstand sustained attacks as it had it's own well located in this courtyard
The Chapel was very solidly built with very thick walls
The restaurant was located down a level just off the main courtyard through a narrow, low door.
Lunch was outstanding, a 3 course meal with 4 choices of entree, main and desert. Nice red and white wine was supplied with the meal. The duck confit with roasted pear that we had for main course was first class. The venue also had a great atmosphere and was most enjoyable. The amount of food was too much, but very nice. So far, we are very impressed with Tauck Tours.
We were out of there by 3.30pm and back in the bus heading for our accomodation for the next 2 days.
The coutryside seems to be getting more mountainous, and the valleys more productive, with a lot of hay in the fields and a range of crops under cultivation.
The coutryside seems to be getting more mountainous, and the valleys more productive, with a lot of hay in the fields and a range of crops under cultivation.
The rooms all overlook the valley
View from our room
A nice cosy bar area
Room allocation and transfer of our baggage was absolutely seamless. All we need to do it present ourselves at reception at 6.20pm, for a walk up to the castle for a small concert that Tauck have organised for our group. It will go for about an hour.
Walking past the side of the castle
The room set aside for the concert had great acoustics
Entering the concert area, there was a small reception area at the entrance where wine was served to all who wanted some, before sitting down to enjoy the concert.
The musicians were a piano player and a violinist, who produced some amazing music. The tunes were mostly lively folk and dance tunes from the area. We were all very surprised at the music they produced.
It is now approaching dinner time, so we headed back to our room for a shower. We are booked in for dinner at 8.45pm (already getting used to the Spanish custom of eating late).
Dinner is another triumph, this time were are served a tasting menu (a bit like a degustation meal) once again, with red and white wine provided. Once again the food quality is excellent.
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