Montserrat

So, where the hell was Alex (see below, for Alex's "where the hell is Matt" dance)? He was at Montserrat, a monastery poised upon a cliff about an hour northwest of Barcelona. Pilgrims have flocked to this spot for 1,000 years, although the monastery there today is of more recent vintage. The draw for pilgrims (aside from the amazing view, which you would definitely want as payoff for the climb!) is the black Madonna, known as La Moreneta, or the dark lady, a wooden sculpture of Mary and baby Jesus, whose face and hands turned black, probably from the lead paint originally used, and then painted black on purpose.

There is still a long line today to see her, and we are the Waits; we don't like to wait. So I captured a photo from afar:

Although the statue itself is made of wood, the monastery now has the funds to display her in the most ornate setting, on a silver throne. She holds an orb in her right hand, apparently representing the universe, and pilgrims touch it and beseech her for a miracle (here's someone else's close-up, swiped from the Internet -->).

And that would be great for some people---but that's not the only reason to come to Montserrat. The monastery itself is about 2500 feet above the plain below, and luckily tourists today can take the cable car up. And to climb among the cliffs, there are also short funiculars to get you even higher. Here are the shots of our amazing day at Montserrat.

Cable car ride up.

Then we took the funicular up higher...

...and looked back down at the monastery below.

One of the goals of our hike: a small chapel. To the right, you can see the remnants of old monastery buildings, largely gone now but for some stone walls.

Alex, Arthur, and Eloise continued on up higher. Anna and I stayed below and ate potato chips.

(After all, she had carried that bag of potato chips the whole way, and it looked about to burst from the elevation change. It would have been a shame to waste them!)

All of us on the hike (plus the potato chips).

Alex higher up.

The amazing rock formations (and a cross out at the edge).

Montserrat has it all: amazing landscape, terrifying cable car ride, beautiful church, gorgeous hike, and even an impressive museum. We spent nearly the whole day (until about the time I discovered that I had lost my debit card somewhere between buying the train tickets and turning in my audio guide. But I canceled it once we were back at home, and there was no unauthorized activity. My lucky-unlucky streak continues!).

Anna took a 5-minute video of the whole ride down in the cable car. If I ever get a better Internet connection, I might upload it. Suffice it to say, we were really &%$#! high!