Celebrating Fifty Trips Around The Sun With A Transatlantic Cruise – Day 4

We were up again around 7:00 and headed up to the Windjammer for some breakfast. The weather looked promising, and this meant that we would head to one of my ultimate happy places, the monastery of Montserrat. First, we needed some food though. Graham started with oatmeal with dried fruit and sugar. He then had some fruit and a couple of Danish pastries. I had some plain congee with fried onion and bacon bits and a pear. After breakfast, we headed back to the cabin to get everything we needed for the day and then we headed down to deck 5 where the gangway was going to be that day.

As we were on the lift, the announcement was made that the ship had been cleared. We headed straight to the gangway. It was strange to arrive in Barcelona and not collect our luggage. This was the first time we had Barcelona as a port of call rather than as start and end point. We headed outside and stopped for photos. Then we followed the sign for the shuttle buses. When we got the to the buses, we had a bit of a surprise. We were advised that we needed to get tickets inside. You used to be able to get tickets on the bus. I left Graham near the buses, and I headed inside to get the shuttle bus tickets. I had to go through security and the line for the shuttle buses was impressive. However, it moved very quickly and soon I was back with Graham. There was a bus just about to leave and we were able to get on this. We got dropped off at the World Trade Centre. This was also something new. The port shuttles used to drop off at the Columbus statue at the bottom of La Rambla. The traffic in this area was always a nightmare and the new location works a lot better even though it is a little further. I was amused as there was a lot of Emirates branding opposite the shuttle area. I figured this would be easy to find on the return.

We headed towards the Columbus statue and then up La Rambla to the closest metro station. The metro took us straight to Plaça Espanya from where we had to catch the train to Montserrat. There was a metro just arriving as we got to the platform. It was relatively empty, too. When we got to the metro station at Plaça Espanya, we followed the signs for the train station, and this took us to the surface. We looked around and there was nothing at all there that looked remotely like a train station. Fortunately, there was a tourist information kiosk nearby and I approached them for help. The person who helped me asked straight away if we were going to Montserrat. I told her that we were, and she advised she could sell us the tickets. There are two levels of all-inclusive tickets that can only be bought at Plaça Espanya. The one we were after is called Tot Montserrat and includes the train to Monistrol de Montserrat, the rack railway up to the monastery, lunch at the buffet, admission to the art museum, the audiovisual experience, the basilica, the throne of the black Madonna and the two funiculars as well as the metro back to the ship. This ticket is a really good deal. She sold us our ticket and told us how to get to the station. It turned out that Plaça Espanya is underground and the only evidence that it is there at all is a small sign with the logo of the train company. Without help, we would never have found this.

Unfortunately, we had just missed a train. It is an hourly service. We both used the bathroom and then headed down to the right platform. There were seats there. The rain arrived pretty early, and we got on. This meant that we had our pick of seats. The trains on this route always seem to be busy. The train left on time. I worked on my trip report during the journey. The train took an hour to get to Monistrol de Montserrat, where we had to change to the rack railway. This was already waiting for us. We just got on and shortly afterwards we made our way up the mountain.

When we arrived at the top, we decided to go straight for lunch. This turned out to be a wise decision as multiple tour groups arrived as we were leaving. I have eaten at the buffet on every visit to Montserrat. There is a good selection of food and for one moderate price, all food and drink including wine and beer is included. Not only is the food nice and it is great value and convenient, but the views are amazing. Graham was healthy and had a first plate of Salad and bread and a second plate of rice with vegetable sauce, baked potato, and fish fingers. I was not particularly healthy and had fries, sausage, bean stew with pork, marinated pork, and chicken croquettes. I went back for some more sausage, marinated pork, and a crusty roll. I also had some vanilla and chocolate ice cream. I am not much of a beer drinker, but I am quite partial to the local beer Estrella. The had this on tap. Unfortunately, you had to help yourself. I ended up with more foam than beer. I stuck to Coke after that. Graham had water.

After lunch, I headed out exploring. Apart from the rack railway, there are two funiculars at Montserrat. One goes partially down the mountain to Santa Cova, the holy grotto where according to tradition the black Madonna of Montserrat was found my shepherd boys. This is often closed and when we were there, it only operated on weekends. The second funicular goes further up the mountain from where the monastery is. We went up there the previous year and I was absolutely blown away by the views. This is where I wanted to head. Graham did not fancy this. I arranged a meeting time and place with him and then I headed to the funicular station.

I had timed this perfectly. When I got to the funicular station, there was a funicular due to leave in a couple of minutes. I got in line and once they allowed us to board, I went as far up the front as I could. The funiculars run every 15 minutes, and this would give me enough time to head to the overlook, enjoy the view, take some photos and go back down 15 minutes later. This worked out great. I headed to the little museum which is right beside the funicular station. We had found the previous year that the best views were from the balcony of that museum. I was there by myself. I took a few minutes to just enjoy the peace and the views. Then I took some photos and headed back to the funicular station. I had a couple of minutes wait until the funicular headed back the mountain. I was chatting with a couple from the USA, and they were planning to catch the 14:15 rack railway. The funicular was due to leave at 14:00, but by the time everyone was loaded, it was a couple of minutes after that. The trip down the mountain takes 8 minutes. The funicular station is right above the rack railway, but you still have to get down the hill and then take an escalator down to the platform. I had my doubts that they would make it. I did however not see them when we arrived for the 15:15 departure. Hopefully that meant that they made it.

I had originally planned to visit both the basilica and the black Madonna. However, I had about 45 minutes left until I was due to meet up with Graham. Both times I had been previously, the lines for the black Madonna were long. Last time, I had a timed ticket, and it still took a fair while. With the all-inclusive ticket, you do not get a timed entry, but join the standby line. I figured that the line would take longer than I had to spare. I was not too bothered as I had seen the black Madonna on my previous two visits and without a shadow of doubt, I would be back. I headed up to the basilica, which is a little way away from the complex where the rack railway and the funiculars are. When you get to the square in front of the basilica, the entrance to the basilica is on the left and the entrance for the black Madonna is on the right. Normally the line for the black Madonna runs at least to whole length of the courtyard that lies between the square and the actual basilica and often it spills out into square. I could see as far down as where the booth is where they check your tickets. There was nobody there. I could not believe my eyes. I decided to try my luck expecting full well that I would end up turning back. I had my ticket checked and at that point, I could see the door that is used to access the black Madonna. There still was nobody there. The security guard at the door waved me straight through. I figured this would probably be OK. I walked down the corridor that connects various chapels and there was still not a soul. This was still the same when I got to the first set of stairs, the room where the stairs to the throne room are and even on the stairs leading to the throne room. When I got to the top of the stairs, there was one couple in the throne room, but they were just leaving. I was up there by myself. I had a few moments of quiet reflection and then took some photos. Once I saw another couple coming up the stairs, I left. I felt seriously blessed to be able to experience this spiritual spot by myself and to actually get to spend some quality time in the presence of the black Madonna. This is something I will not forget in a hurry.

I exited onto the path of Ave Maria. This is a really magical spot. It is a space in between the wall of the basilica and the mountain. There are beautiful panels made from tiles in this area. There are also racks where people can leave candles. It amused me the previous year that the Roman Catholic Church had entered the 21st century and you can pay for the candles using contactless payments. I paid for a candle and lit it. One think that has always intrigued me is a statue that is in this area. I finally found out that it is The Angel of the Annunciation” by Apel-les Fenosa i Florensa.

After I lit my candle, I headed inside the basilica. I spent a few minutes sitting down for some more quiet reflection. Then I took a photo and headed out. On the way back to the rack rail station, I took some more photos. I made a quick stop at a bathroom and then I went to meet Graham. He had been on a short hike towards Santa Cova. He did not make it quite as far as the chapel. This is high up the list for our next visit.

Once we were reunited, we headed back to the rack rail station. When we got to the bottom, I had time for a quick photo of the mountain before our train arrived. The train was really busy. Most people who got on at the station for the rack railway got a seat, but the people who had connected from the cable car ended up standing. We had a smooth journey back to Plaça Espanya. I napped for a good chunk of the journey. We did find that there was a connection between the train station and the metro station underground. We got tangled up with the rush hour and let two metros go before one came that had some space.

We walked the short distance to the shuttle stop. One was just leaving as we got there, but the next one was not far behind. We were the first people on and had our pick of seats. This ended up being a very full shuttle and somebody was very vocal complaining on how full this shuttle was. As she was arguing with the driver, this delayed us a little, but eventually we were on our way back to our ship. This did not take long. Considering how many people were on the bus and that some tour buses arrived at the same time, security was super speedy.

When we got back to the ship, I stopped for some photos. This was election day in the USA, and I was wearing my childless cat lady T-shirt for the occasion. I had promised one of my colleagues photographic evidence. Unfortunately, the photos did not turn out as well as I hoped and did not make the cut.

We decided to head up to the Roy bar for a bit. The drink of the day was the Raspberry Rickey. We had come across this before and really liked it. It is made with Whitley Neill raspberry gin and is refreshing and delicious. Graham had two of those. I started with a Raspberry Rickey, but then had a Watermelon Rita.

After we had relaxed for about an hour over our drinks, we headed back to the cabin. We took turns getting showered and then got changed. We stopped for some photos on the way to dinner. Again, there was no line to speak of to get seated.

The menu that evening was A Taste of the UK. We had this on the Symphony of the Seas the previous year and were amused what supposedly is traditional food in the UK. Some of it is fairly accurate, but other additions to the menu are not. Graham started with a Shrimp cocktail, and I had the mozzarella sticks with Marinara sauce. For his main course, Graham had the traditional fish and chips, which came with proper thick cut chips, coleslaw, mushy peas and tartare sauce. I have never seen coleslaw served with fish and chips in the UK, but at least they now added mushy peas to this dish and Graham said that they were nice. I had the Chicken Tikka Masala. This sounds strange, but this dish was actually invented in the UK. It was delicious and came with basmati rice, roti and poppadom. For our dessert, we both had the English trifle. It was not terribly authentic, but it was tasty enough. We both enjoyed a couple of glasses of Chateau St. Michelle Riesling with our dinner.