On Saturday morning I walk again for one hour in the old quarter of Barcelona, then have breakfast with Graham. He will take off already today, so his schedule does not allow large excursions. But I intend to visit that rugged mountain that I had seen on the first day here: Montserrat. The evening before, I got very good travel instructions from Antonio, one of the local organisers. He actually got married there, and is very excited about this place - recommends the visit warmly.
First I take a subway to Placa Espagna, then there I would buy the train ticket for Montserrat. At one of the counters for buying tickets, I want to ask where exactly to buy the train ticket. This train is not a subway, but belongs to a different company. After she is done with the talk on her mobile phone which took a few minutes, she tells me I have to get the ticket at a vending machine further down. I walk further along the tunnel, then there is a stand with a guy, advertising the trip to Montserrat. Can I buy a ticket from him? No; instead he hands me a brochure with the train schedule, then encircles there the train I need to take and the type of ticket. Tells me I should ask one of the officials next to the ticket machine to help me. Sounds ok. I go there, the official is busy at one opened vending machine, fixing something at the interior of that machine. I cannot disturb him now, he waves to the machine where the tickets should be bought. Well, ok, I can do that myself also. Press the touch screen button for language selection. No reaction. Press again, does not work, I press some of the other buttons, they work ok. Well, so I have to do this in Spanish. Ok, I identify my ticket type, and I am able to select the right ticket, based on the price. Some strange abbreviations, A.i.T., Montserrat, but I guess it will be all right. There is a 50 Euro note pictured on the machine. I am glad because the only cash I have are two 50 Euro notes. I put one in, it comes back out. In again, comes out. Try the other one, the same. Put them in the slot in different orientation, nothing... This machine does not like 50 Euro notes. Now I am in trouble. But there is also the possibility to select a credit card purchase. Ok, I put the card in. Everything appears in Spanish on the screen. I think it wants to know my pin number... so I enter it. Then something else, I think if I want a receipt. I press OK. Some printing is going on, then my ticket comes out, and a receipt too.
Ok, that worked well.
I board the train. Is a narrow-gauge system that covers a significant network of trains from Barcelona. The first 15 minutes it goes through a tunnel, across the city. Then it emerges into the suburbs of Barcelona, heading further West. In about one hour the train arrives at the bottom of the Montserrat mountain. Then I switch trains and hop into the waiting cog train, "Cremarella". In 25 minutes it climbs the steep incline up to the spectatularly located Montserrat monestary. I walk around, take another funiculare up to the Sant Joan area. Gorgeous view over the area, up to the basin of Barcelona in the distance.
I walk around on these rocks. Climbers make it up all the way to the peaks.
I visit the Montserrat museum. A small collection of paintings. Among the famous ones (Picasso, Dali, Monet) are several ones that are completely unknown to me (I am a bit of a moron when it comes to paintings): Ramon Alsina (1826-1894) with landscapes, Joan Roig Soler (1852-1909) with Spanish houses, Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) with landscapes and towns, Santiago Rusinol (1861-1931) with towns and cities, Dario de Regoyos (1857-1913) with cities and landscapes, Ramon Casas (1866-1932) with faces of people, Joaquim Mir (1873-1940) with colorful impressionistic / expressionistic paintings, Isidre Nonell (1873-1911) with women who all look away. Quite fascinating. Especially one painter catches my attention: the Russian Olga Sacharoff (1889-1967) with her paintings of very intense colors. I buy a book with the the complete catalog of the museum so I could view these paintings later at home again.
I return around 18:00 to Barcelona, walk from Expagna where the Exposition area is, to my hotel. After a nap - I got quite tired - I go out for a last evening stroll, through the busy and buzzling streets of the Barcelona center. Am not hungry today, so I skip the tapas dinner.
