MKNonline Blog

We left our amazing Barcelona apartment and the city itself today. I’ll forever long for a sunroom and Top Chef kitchen like our rental when I get my own place.

Today’s adventure took us to Montserrat, a monastary complex high on top of a mountain. It’s about an hour outside of Barcelona. After that, we fulfilled my lifelong goal of sleeping in a castle. But back to the beginning. We rented a car from an Avis uptown, which required another long hike with suitcases through the Barcelona streets. It would take us until Brussels to get over this bad habit of dragging suitcases for 1+ miles. When we got there, a nice black Audi A4 awaited Ezeibe, our driver. Alan and Ezeibe pop boners on first sight.

I was never allowed within touching distance of the steering wheel.

Now this car would be quite a blessing and curse. You see, Alan is not comfortable in the passenger seat, especially when the driver has little experience driving manual transmission. Alan had been varying levels between anxious to agitated in the days leading up to this moment, and it was all about to boil over in an entertaining show of sheer panic.

Our drive to Montserrat essentially followed this pattern of activity:

1) Ezeibe stalls *…”Whaaaaaattttt?!?!”
2) Alan repeatedly chants “Don’t worry. Don’t panic.” I secretly wonder whether he is calming himself or Ezeibe.
3) Ezeibe fails 1-3 times at restarting the car. Alan fights the urge to hijack the steering wheel and pedals.
4) Ezeibe succeeds! Everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief.
5) Everyone gets complacent and comfortable with Ezeibe’s driving so we talk about the differences between the A4 and GTI. **
6) The GPS says to turn or take an exit. Alan, the navigator, gets confused with Ezeibe’s phone GPS. I, the backseat driver, saw the sign to take the exit 10 miles back, when we were on step 5.
7) We take the wrong turn/exit. I get reprimanded for pointing out their blind reliance on technology.
Repeat.

* My favorite stall happened on a highway onramp close to a tollbooth.

** I may not have been included in this conversation.

Miraculously, we make it to the Montserrat base. We were going to attempt to drive up the mountain and park at the monastary, but we of course couldn’t find our way up, so we decide to take a cable car ride from the base (If you’re keeping track: this would be four cable car rides in two days).

Cable Car #3

If yesterday’s cable car ride was frightening for its unnecessary height, this one got me for its sheer audacity. We scaled a fucking mountain in less than five minutes. On the way down, I thought I was leaning against a clear glass window. Except there was no window. No one seemed to notice. I mentally go through all the scenarios of how I would fall to my death off a cable car.

Cool things about Montserrat:

- Their chocolate, made by the monks up there. Bad for your teeth, good for your soul. I bought about five pieces of their chocolate.

Ezeibe looks for chocolate.

- The view. Another breathtaking view, this time of the Spanish valley. We were surrounded by this amazing valley and tiny villages. You could see the snow-capped Pyrenese mountains in the distance. If you look up towards the top of the cliffs, Montserrat has these unique white, rounded cliffs. It was a super clear day, and we could see for miles. Spain just looked totally unspoiled from that height.

This is one of those optical illusions where your brain can't decide who or what is better looking. I made it into frame with half a second to spare. Tripod was set up on top of a flight of spiraling stairs

Not-So-Cool things:

- Vertigo. I don’t care how good with heights you are, you’ll get it in Montserrat.

Cool rock cliffs, but don't look down...

- People taking pictures inside the Montserrat basilica when the signs say specifically not to. I hate when people disrespect tourist rules, especially in an actual place of worship. Although I have no pictures to show for it, the cathedral was pretty spectacular as cathedrals go. One, it’s up on top of a mountain, which is inherently cool. And it’s really ornate and big and cavernous, just the way I like it. It had some really ornate tombs, sculptures, and their prized black statue of Madonna (not the Kaballah one) that pilgrims go to rub.

Bad tourists!

- Microclimates. It was freezing down in the valley. Extremely warm, especially while walking, up top. Taking on and off layers are annoying.

After a nice early afternoon there, time for my anticipated portion of Spain, the Cardona Parador. Paradores are hotels that the Spanish government runs or something. What’s unique about them is that they are either these super modern buildings in some scenic location or in these crazy old and historic castles, monastaries, or fortresses. Ours was a castle. I could talk to our drive to Cardona, but it went exactly like our drive to Montserrat. See above.

Cool things about Cardona

- The castle. It was everything I hoped for and more. It was old, it was in near ruins, it was on top of this hill overlooking the village and the valley. And no one was around for miles. Barely anyone was there staying that night. It was just this incredible quiet peacefulness. The castle was all ours to explore. You could literally dangle off cliffs with no barriers. Large chunks of rubble abound. It was the coolest thing, you felt like you stumbled upon this castle by yourself. The rooms itself were large and decent as well. We only paid like 60 euros for the place, which is a steal (yay young person’s discount!).

I keep my distance from wells ever since I saw The Ring.

A deck with a view

The place was that empty.

- Sunset. There was this small tower that when you climbed up, you just had another spectacular view of the village below and the natural surroundings. We got there around midnight.

Alan gets his front row seat to sunset.

Fact. It's impossible to take a bad picture of a Spanish village at sunset from atop a castle.

Did I mention we slept in a castle overlooking a village?

- The village. This was a legit medieval village. Small narrow cobblestone streets with hidden alleys and little specialty shops abound. There were kids just running around and in the middle was the imposing church and a square where all the teenagers just hung around. It could not have been a more typical laid-back, European village. After Barcelona city life, it was incredible to walk around and be a part of that slow lifestyle. We ate dinner in a small greasy diner that night in the village square. I had never felt so at home away from home.

All villages should have a castle overlooking it.

The village church. The medieval village of Cardona is probably smaller than Central Park in size. Cool winding, alley, one-lane, cobblestone streets.

Not-So-Cool Things About Cardona
- Ezeibe at sunset. Two minutes after getting to the top of the tower, about 10 minutes before sunset, Ezeibe got bored, whipped out phone and searched for a 3G connection, thus ruining our moment of zen.

Ezeibe, unimpressed by natural surroundings.

- Japanese tourists. Five minutes before sunset, a group of three Japanese tourists and their Spanish friend invade the tower and further ruin our moment of zen by their Japanese tourist ways (taking pictures of each one of them at sunset and being really loud and obnoxious about it).

- Ghosts. I went down to the village from the castle, it’s a 10 minute hike down the castle ruins to get there. Uphill back to the castle, it’s more like 20 (a lot of stairs…). I went by myself to the village the first time. It was an amazing walk down to the village, as the sun was slowly disappearing. It was bone-chilingly frightening on the way back up. Total darkness except for some very dimly lit lights every once in a while. And I was alone. It was probably the wind, but I heard a woosh that sent me running up those stairs.

Detour on my way down to the village. It's all fun and spiritual in the castle ruins until the sun goes down. I would crap my pants in terror in this same spot on the return trip.

After dinner, it was a pitch black hike up to the top of the castle. We stared at some stars and went off to bed.

Hey, don’t forget, these are only a sampling of pictures I took. I have plenty more good shots of Cardona and Montserrat. Please take a look! You’ll be impressed.

My New Year’s resolution for 2009:

1) Travel more. This Europe trip is just the beginning. I bought an extra week of vacation, I’m regrettably back at home, which means I’m ready to get out and see the world. I want to be in all seven continents before I die (or, when I’m feeling more optimistic, before I’m 30). Also, my friends are drifting further and further across the globe and I’m determined not to lose them.

2) Get on Survivor. What? As if you’re really going to “go to the gym everyday.” Fat-ass hypocrite.

3) Be present. I don’t think I’m especially bad at this, I just think it’s getting harder for everyone to do this. Technology is a double-edged sword. I’m tired of talking to a person who is playing with a Blackberry or just looking at the computer screen or is already thinking of the next person to hang out with. I realize I’m hard to listen to, but come on. From the lyrics of the great Michael Jackson, “That’s why I’m starting with me…” (Man in the Mirror, classic song).

4) Be taller. Expand my presence. My brother is probably about the same height as me. I don’t think anyone sees him as short though. Such is the luxury of a big personality.

Our last full day in Barcelona got off to a late start from exhaustion. The nice thing with vacation is that this is totally okay. The bad thing was we essentially wasted our Arsticket from the day before. Price of Admission at two museums < Price of Arsticket. We only had time for one museum before everything closed (it was supposedly Sunday. We would have no idea of the day of week it was from here on out).

We chose the CCCB (the Contemporary cultural building or something to that effect) because it was closeby to our apartment. They had a cool special exhibit called Drap Art that was all art made with recyclable or re-usable material. Cool stuff. The other exhibits were depressing though. I think one was on people's obsession with material things and body image which made me, a person obsessed with material things and body image, feel like a horrible person. It was also very uncomfortable art, which I can respect, but I'm not going to look at it more than I have to. The other was not so much an art exhibit but a pretty extensive collection of evidence on the rapid globalization and urbanization of China in the form of movies, photographs, maps, and city records. Lesson learned: China is big. And it will destroy everything in its path.

My kind of Art

Up next, we took our first Barcelona subway ride and immediately question why we never took the subway before. Clean, cheap, empty, and on-time, all of which are my favorite properties of a good subway system.

Since it was getting late for a Sunday, we were going to go to Montjuic, another giant park on another hill overlooking the downtown Barcelona area. This one was closer to the water. What’s fun is you take the subway to a funicular (those elevator-type vehicles that goes up a hill) that takes you to the base of the hill/park. From there, you take a cable car ride to the top of the hill where a castle sits with awesome views of the city and Mediterranean. It’s totally free and open to the public, although there’s a military museum you can pay for to visit.

Where did Alan go?

Alan's search party.

Always the willing subject, Ezeibe stares directly into the sun for me to get my shot.

Put some clothes on, woman.

The two most badass muthafuckas on the planet.

The view from the top of the fortress was as equally amazing as yesterday’s view of Park Guell. I love good views. Looking at everything around you, it weirdly just makes me so present and aware. I can hear my thoughts and emotions clearer.

A random couple enjoys the show.

Unspoken rule that all group photos must be taken from at least 50 feet above sea level.

One of the views from the top. I think that's the city museum in the foreground.

Thus ends my hippy diatribe. So the sun was setting, which meant we had to get out of the park and off to dinner. We decided to take a different cable car back down that would take us to Barceloneta, the neighborhood by the port close to the beaches. This cable car ride is up there in my list of scariest cable car rides. This car was tiny, with little seating. And, when it initially arrived to the station, the conductor looked at it funny, hopped out of the cable car, and talked to the tech. They discussed something, and then decided to send off the cable car on its own. Except, it went about 10 yards, swung in the wind a bit, and then came back to the station. And then they let us in. Paranoia sinks in and I start mentally accepting that this is the way I’m going to die.

This cable car was also unnecessarily high above the ground and water. I swear it actually went higher than the hill on its way to the port. At the end, you basically land on this giant hulking metal tower and have to take an elevator 30 something stories down. Not cool.

Scary cable car ride

We made it down and walked along the beach/boardwalk, which was another great “Holy shit, I’m in Europe moment.” It shouldn’t have been, but it just was. There were a scattering of people just chilling out in beach blankets either reading a book, having a picnic, or hanging out as the sun was setting. I have never been a beach person, but watching those people just hang out at dusk without a care in the world makes me want to immediately buy beachfront property. We walk through the sand and take our moment of zen along the water.

I could get used to beach life.

Cool art piece on the beach

Dinner provided some more fruitless wandering. We spotted an open restaurant that looked authentic enough and seemed to serve seafood. Everyone was eating on giant barrels, which was a good enough gimmick for me to buy in. Unfortunately, when we finally got seated, we were in the back room of the restaurant, where we sat in front of a giant keg, not on top of one. Whatever. Ezeibe decided he needed to try paella again. I felt adventurous and offered to split one as well. Alan, not really agreeing with our restaurant choice in the first place, just shrugged and joined in as well.

I guess the paella was okay. It had a ton of shellfish and clams. I’m not usually a fan, but hey, when in Spain. I’m sure it was better than the one Ezeibe had the day before, which we’re pretty sure was microwaved. I mean, for the giant portion we got even though we split a paella, it seemed well worth the 25euro price. Except it really wasn’t. When the bill came out, we realize we had each been charged 25euros for the joint paella. I guess that’s normal. It kind of ruined our day.

And so ended our last day in Barcelona. We tried to pack up and get some early sleep because of our day tomorrow, where we would leave the city.

Miraculously, the three of us are back in the States safe and sound. As I decompress, check back here often for updates. I got plenty of stories left to tell.

Happy New Year!