Monserrat, Codorníu and Parc Güell

The next day took us up into the mountainous area around Barcelona.

The Benedictine Abbey of Monserrat is the number 1 point of interest for all visitors of Barcelona. It is an important place of pilgrimage, a very active Catholic community and in the Indipendence Wars between Spain and Catalania it was the centre of resistance. Always Catalá, the Catalan language, has been spoken there, and due to its important role it is still spoken today everywhere in Catalania (which is the district of Barcelona, the district of Valencia and the Balearic Islands). So all you fluent Spanish speakers out there: Forget talking Spanish.... (And for people like me who had tried to learn so many Spanish holiday phrases as possible it was a bit...let´s say unnerving. *smile*

The atmosphere there is very energetic, and there are also people claiming to have seen UFOs there. Well, this did not happen to us, but the feeling in the area is very special indeed. The monastery is set into a beautiful environment, and you suddenly feel very much at peace with the world around you.

We were told that if you come as "poor pilgrim" you are allowed to stay at the monastery for free for three days. I cannot answer the question though why they built this very expensive hotel at the site - wouldn´t everybody claim to be a "poor pilgrim" then or is it just my mean thinking?

The inner yard of the monastery, leading right to the church where services are held. In this yard you also queue to visit the famous "Black Madonna", the centre of worshipping in the monastery.

Scientists have tried to find out about the black colour of the Madonna, not being a representation of the typical African Madonna, but a European version with dark skin. It might be that the material darkened over time, that it was buried in the ground during the wars, which would have started a chemical reaction then....lots of interesting theories, but no definate answers at the moment.

We saw the Black Madonna from a distance from inside the church. Queueing to walk up there would have taken ages...

Then we took the furnicular to go up even higher.

Believe me, it is beautiful up there! The air is so clean and you seem to be able to see forever and ever.

Much too soon it was time to say good-bye, and the tour took us to a winery which we actually had not been keen on seeing. But the tour to the Gaudi church in the mountains had been cancelled, so we were booked onto the other tour, and the guy at the office had sworn that we would love it. Of course we did not believe him...

... and then the visit turned out to be one of these unexpected smash-hits. It was just fabulous and we had a brilliant time there!

Codorníu is the world´s largest producer of sparkling wine made by the traditional champagne method, and it produces 60 million bottles annually. Sparkling wine from this region is known as "cava", because only sparkling wine from the Champagne region is allowed to be called "champagne", but the procedure and making is just the same.

Codorníu is a family business and run by a woman! Thank you very much, I like that. And I also liked the entrance hall - which looked as if we had suddenly woken up in the middle of "Falcon Crest" (And that was poor compared to what we saw.)

They gave us a detailed tour around the whole area, we walked through exhibition rooms, pressing facilities and, of course, the cellars. 30.000 m2 of cellar area where the cava is stored. No kidding, we even had to board a train, which was like a roller coaster ride! You have to take care not to get lost down there. On the other hand, you could survive for a very long time with all the cava...

And at the end of the tour they gave us some cava to try. Boy, it was extremely refreshing, and we definately were fit for new adventures after this! We even bought a bottle of cava to bring back home with us - I doubt we will ever drink it. Probably we will just look at it and *sigh* think of the excellent times we had back at Codorníu.

We rounded up the day with an evening visit of Parc Güell, our first serious confrontation with Gaudi.

Gaudi was comissioned to build an "English park" combinated with a housing site where living and nature should be equal. It definately was a great challenge for the famous architect as he always oriented himself on nature and tried to combine art and the respect for all living beings. In the past days his project was not the big success that everybody had expected, but today Parc Güell has been turned into a municipal garden and is a really magic fairy-tale garden with hundreds of visitors every day.

The "drac" is the inofficial landmark of the City of Barcelona. You find replica of him in each and every souvenir shop, and thousands of photos are taken of him every day. Of course we were no exception!

The main terrace is the focal point of the whole garden complex, and from there you have a grand view over the City of Barcelona.

What I especially loved about Parc Güell was the fact that apart from the typical tourist sites it is very peaceful and very affectionately taken care of. The garden is lush and green, it smells of tropical flowers and you can sit there quietly, enjoy the view and nobody bothers you. Around me in the mild evening air crickets were chirping, dogs played, people went for their evening jog and indeed it is a place where people live and dream and do not think about their everyday worries. I guess Gaudi would have liked that - we certainly did.

And again night is falling over this beautiful city...