Barcelona, Spain

We'd been here in 2012 and in 2016, so go to those pages (half way down on both) to see what we did then.

Ginny escorted a tour to Montserrat Monastery and Nature Park about 30 miles outside of Barcelona. The bus took us to the train/tram that goes to the top of the mountain. These were old cars and locomotive on display at the base station.

Amazing views on the way up.

The whole site is dominated by the mountains.

The site is amazing in every direction.

There is a chapel carved into the base of this mountain, well below the monastery level where we were.

This relief "Ariadne and Hermes" was originally in a bank, but was donated to the monastery when the bank moved out of building. Ariadne personifies life, love & art. Hermes symbolizes the confluence of divine and human science.

The monastery

This eleaborate piece was on the way into the monastery.

 
More hallway art and the courtyard

In the main church

 
Groups walk along the side to gain access to the Our Lady of Montserrat, a carving from the late 12th-century. The color of the face and hands of Mary and the baby Jesus are most likely due to a slow process of oxidation of the varnish as well as the action of candle smoke and oil lamps over the centuries, so she is now known as the Black Modonna.

"A Stairway to Understanding" by Josep Maria Subirachs is about 30 feet tall.
It's been fenced off so people can't climb it.

 
The terrain is rugged and these rocks have created very steep wall all around.
We took a bus down the narrow curvy road down to the the bottom lands.

 
Dean escorted a tour to Sitges, a sea-side town north of Barcelona.

 
Church of Saint Bartomeu & Santa Tecla is a landmark in this town.

 
The open bell tower is unique.

 
La Sirenia, the mermaid, begs for a high-five.

 
Two Catalan artists who were part of the modernism movement: Santiago Rusiñol and Ramon Casas.
The sculpture with the hands and the bat was to honor Don Facundo Bacardi Massó who was born in Sitges in 1814. He created the Bacardi, the famous drink company.

Lunch was served.

On the way back, the famous Barcelona cemetery on a bluff was visible from the bus.

From here we traveled to Athens to wait five days for our next assignment.