Day 9 (Barcelona): November 11, 2016

Day 9 (Barcelona):

We woke up at 6:45 AM and Hannah met us downstairs for breakfast around 7:15 AM.  After breakfast we walked over to the tour guide building that was 5 minutes from the hotel.  Today, we were taking a group tour to Montserrat and Cordonui.  There were about 15 of us taking the tour and we loaded into the bus to begin our tour for the day.  The drive from Barcelona to Montserrat was about 1 hour and it took us up through the windy roads to the top of the mountain where Montserrat was located. 

Montserrat is the well known site of the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat hosts the Virgin of Montserrat (The Black Virgin).  When we got there it was a little cold but had great views of the surrounding area.  Our guide gave us some basic information but then gave everybody a few hours to tour around on our own and then meet up later on.  We decided to take the funicular to the top of the mountain and walk around. We waited on line for about 20 minutes and then took the slow ride up the mountain.  

When we got to the top there was a stray cat hanging out on the wall and we took some pictures with it.

There were great views of the surrounding area and enjoyed the outdoors for while.  

Since we didn’t have a lot of time, we took a short hike and then found a great place to sit down and rest.  We had a little snack and took some pictures of the surrounding mountains.  The sun was shining and it was beautiful out.

We hung out for a while and then grabbed the funicular back down the mountain because we wanted to hear the boy’s choir sing at the church.  When we got to the church we waited in line to see the Black Virgin and touch her “special ball” she holds that supposedly gives you luck. 

Allison touching the Special Ball

Hannah touching the Special Ball

The line took about 15 minutes to move through, but when we got to the Virgin, the choir was singing and we had a great view looking down on the congregation. 

Inside the Chapel listening to the Boy's Choir

At that point, the choir had finished singing and the church cleared out so we were able to walk around in the church.  It was lunch time, so we found a buffet place to use the restrooms and have some food (not many places to eat).  I had some pasta and potatoes (the food was fine).  Hannah then bought a fig cake from one of the vendors selling their wares on the side walk outside. 

Hannah with her fig cake

It was getting late and we had to make our way back to the meeting point to join the rest of our tour.  We then loaded up back into the bus and drove for about 30 minutes to Cordonui. 

Allison, Scott and Hannah outside at the Entrance to Cordonui

 Codorníu is the world's oldest and second-largest producer of bottle-fermented sparkling wine, known as cava, made by the traditional champagne method and it was founded in Catalonia, Spain in 1551.  We took a tour of the winery and then they brought us down below level to see where they stored the Cava Casks and sample some Cava. 

They offered one white and one rosay.  We had a nice tour guide there and he took a special picture of Hannah where it looked like she had a “Halo” around her head.

The tour finished in the gift shop (no surprise) after about 1.5 hours.  I looked around but didn’t find anything interesting for my basement bar.  We got back on the bus and drove about an hour back to Barcelona.  Once in Barcelona, Hannah needed some make-up so we stopped in Sephora and bought her what she needed.  I stopped at the market and picked up some bottles of water and then got back to the hotel room at 6:45 PM.  We hung out in the room until 7:45 PM and then went over to check out Hannah’s apartment.  She lives in a “Suite” with a number of other girls but shares a very small room (10’ x 10’) with Colleen (her roommate who goes to Bucknell). The girls got ready and then we walked over to dinner and had a bunch of different Tapas (along with a beer).  After dinner, Al wanted to get a coffee so we picked up an Apple Tart at Hannah’s favorite bakery and found a place to get coffee.  We talked for a while and then took a cab back to the hotel at 10:30 PM.