Happy hump day! I can't believe it's Wednesday already. I'm freaking out a little bit because the days/weeks are flying by and I really want to take advantage of living here as much as possible. On Sunday, I went to Montserrat, which is about an hour from Barcelona by train. It literally means "serrated mountains" because of how weird they look, and it's the home of a monastery. I actually saw a monk walking out of the church, but I didn't take a picture of him because I thought it would be rude... haha
Approaching the mountains
Please excuse the stupid glare from the light inside the train... this would have been an amazing picture if it weren't for that.
After we got off at the train station, we got on a funicular to go up the mountain. It was kind of scary because it was going up at like a 60 degree angle, but I just tried not to think about it. The girl in the picture was part of a family of Korean tourists, and it really made me miss my family haha. In fact, there were a ton of Koreans at Montserrat for some reason...
Finally at Montserrat!
What does Cremallera mean....
Aren't they weird looking?? They were super tall and intimidating.
There was a water fountain right below this thing, and I'm pretty sure this is where the water came from because it tasted gross.
This is kind of like the crest of Montserrat, and the wiggles represent the mountains. I saw this symbol a lot while walking around.
I love Spanish architecture. Or should I say Catalan...
Offerings that people bring to the monastery. I don't really remember what the lady said, but basically, you bring something here and then make a wish. Apparently, wedding dresses are very common. I guess people drop it off and then wish for a happy marriage?
More offerings
This is inside the courtyard where the entrance to the church is located.
I actually said "wow" when I walked into the church. It was so beautiful. I'm not religious but I came back here after the tour and sat for about half an hour because it was peaceful. You can't see it, but way in the front, there is a statue of the virgin Mary and people line up for hours to see her. If you touch her and make a wish, it'll come true (supposedly). The tour guide was like "But you don't want to wait in line, so you can just look upon her from afar". So I did. I made a wish, and it came true that night. I shall not disclose what my wish was and I'm not saying it was because of that statue... but either way, I'm happy it came true.
Walking around and going up and down all these stairs was hell for me, because I had really bad cramps and I had also walked about 8 miles the day before.
I wish I had been in better physical condition to fully enjoy Montserrat, but oh well. I have to pack now because tomorrow I am skipping my Spanish class (yolo) and going to PARIS! I'm meeting my parents there and I'm so excited to see them. We'll stay there for a few days, and then they're coming back to Barcelona with me. I'll definitely be coming back with a gazillion pictures to share for sure.