Up at 6.30am.
Great breakfast again.
On the bus to Montserrat at 8.30am.
Great idea doing these early starts. If you arrive just one hour later, the crowds are everywhere.
As we are early we get the chance to see things crowd free to start with.

Montserrat ..... WOW!
And that doesn't really cover it.
This is one of the main things I have been looking forward to. (Forget those 2 things in London that I said were the main things... Short term memory loss... I can see you, Simone and Brooke. Stop nodding.)
Unbelievable.
Short version.
Up a very steep road to the Monastery built on a ledge on the side of a 'serrated' mountain (see the pictures. I can't explain it) in 1025.
It is on the sunny side of the mountain facing the Mediterranean sheltered from the cold from the Pyrenees by the mountain.
( Imagine how cross they would have been if they found a ledge on the shady side with no view.)
Montserrat is the most visited Holy Site after The Vatican. Even more visitors than Lourdes.
It was built by Benedictine monks.
It is of particular significance to the Catalonians ( inhabitants of this area of Spain) because when Franco asked Mussolini to bomb areas of Spain to wipe out any resistance to his dictatorship, and the Pope did not rise up in horror at these atrocities, the Benedictine monks of Montserrat did. They offered sanctuary to scholars etc to escape Franco.
Catalonians said at the time that they were Catholic... But they were not following the Pope's version of Catholicism.
The Benedictine monks were seen as a symbol of resistance.
Also, in 1811, Napoleon, frightened that there were soldiers up in this massive building on the mountain, dragged cannons way up there .... Finds only the monks... And then destroys it anyway.
( Not liking Napoleon much. )
Fortunately, the monks saw him coming and hid the massive Library of books they had been collecting since the 11th Century.
Pope Julius ... The guy who got Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel was Abbot here before he became the Pope.
Montserrat also has one of the 'Black Madonnas'
Apparently, she was found in a grotto... She was white then. They tried to drag her up the mountain, but she was so heavy, it was nearly impossible. so this was seen as a sign that she was very special. ( no reward without hard work )
But all the smoke from the candles over the centuries gave her a 'tanned ' look so when the monks decided to restore her, the decided to follow the people's choice and keep her as 'the Tanned Madonna'..... (Just darker.)

Aren't you glad that was the short version?

Magnificent place....check out the photos.

Anyway, back to the hotel... Which is amazing!
Decided not to do the excursion into the city.
They were going to a food market. (?)
Probably wonderful but I decided that I needed the rest and there was a very strong possibility that this excursion was not really my cup of tea.
( again ... A food market? Not exactly my thing now is it?)

BESIDES! There's a pool here!
And the weather is hot.
A magnificent pool... Only one til Athens.
Spent the afternoon swimming.
Ohhhhhh....

Off to see the Flamingo Dancers tonight with dinner.

Hannah... Saw the Apple shop on Barcelona ... In a magnificent old building... Blue shirts everywhere.

George... Didn't get to the Bari Gotic quarters this time... But now it's on my list.
Also... Good to know that you are Callum's keeper. I'll know who to talk to.
You have the bear. I have The Doctor.
I win.

Talk tomorrow