Montserrat

As our newly-weds ready for another foreign adventure, I’ve been daydreaming…….  Most of my recent travel has been of the armchair variety.  As much as I enjoy travel programs and the travel oriented posts of some of you, I have found the next best thing to actually being there is savoring photos and journals from past trips.  My memory fills in the periphery of the actual picture, and brings to mind the sounds, smells, and emotions of the experience.  Notes made in a travel journal can spark memories otherwise forgotten.

Revisiting Montserrat

riding the funicular to the first stop

 where the Benedictine abbey seems carved into the mountain itself

filing past the Black Madonna

in the courtyard St. Maria follows the visitor with her haunting eyes

unexpected color in the midst of stone

another climb on the funicular

filled with joyful, friendly school children on an outing

and finally the view from the top

a marvelous day trip from Barcelona – inspirational, a bit exotic and just plain fun!