Girona to Escalona……and some serious high mountain religion

September 16th

The now smooth running machine was up bright and early, packed, breakfasted, car rendezvous completed and on our way to Santa Maria de Monistrol Montserrat ” the Monastery” the first stop of the day. Bright blue sky and temps were expected to reach early 20’s……the autopista grew a little thick with trucks on the outskirts of Barcelona making us feel a tad fragile in our little Renault Clio. Never fear we soon cleared Barcelona and were zipping towards fantastic looking rock formations similar to our hoodoos but huge.

Once again Miss Charm performed perfectly delivering us to the parking lot of the Cremalerra….a rack or cog railway which would run us up to the Monastery, about a 15 minute journey.

Here we are, the monastery and area is huge. It originated in the 9th century with several hermit monks, in 1025 the monastery was founded and the Basilica was constructed in the 12/13th centuries.

The Basilica itself is truly incredible, seen from inside the atrium it is stunning (though tough to photograph due to its size) it is Gothic inspired architecture, largely destroyed during the Napoleonic War 1811-12, it endured some hard times but in 1858 reconstruction started and today it is a tremendous success with over 2 million visitors annually, at 10AM it was busy, cannot imagine what it would be like on a summer day at noon. Some 100 monks of the St, Benedict order live on site.

…there are dozens of ornate candelabras (Catalan jewelry style) which were donated by the Catalan villagers in the 1800’s …

overall ……a 100% wow !

We next took the Funicular de Saint Joan which got us up above the Monastery .

 

 

It was a bit weird because we were on somewhat of a pilgrimage in Spain but surrounded by Russians. In fact as we got on the funicular a nasty Russian with Tartar eyes tried to take 4 places for two at the front of the cabin….no choice but to gently but firmly push the yokel aside to make room for us …..may Saint Joan forgive me.

Got to the top with no further incident, what a wonderful natural areas as there are trails in several directions and if one were so inclined you could hike to other towns several hours distant…….

we just  hiked to the Saint Joan Chapel, one of several chapels on the mountain:

Then a bit further up, as the day was gorgeous, had some pastries and water. Wanted to stay longer but time waits for no one:

…down we went as the hordes were pouring in….one last look at the monastery…

After that back on the road towards Escalano …..about a 3 hour drive….slowly climbing through arid fields to lush farms and eventually into the highlands with vineyards again in evidence. Quite a few wineries with the one in the pic, SOMMOS taking on the ultra modern style:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Started to worry about our diesel (called gasoil) situation ( btw averaging 1.10 euros per litre not bad…..and this bad boy of a car seems to go forever on a tank load) but soon ran into a station with a charming young lady in an orange jumpsuit and very long blue gloves who attended to the vehicule…..don’t see that too often at home > sorry no pic.

Stopped in Ainsa, for a short walkabout, the old town is quite charming dating back from the 11th and 12th centuries:

after we arrived in Escalona, the hotel was where it should be, checked in with no problems….with all parties being unable to communicate in any language….thank goodness for reservations by Booking.com. As for the car left it in front of the hotel (what a luxury) and then asked if ok….the mana

Soon thereger just said to resto tranquillo!!

Nice room with the sound of a river running beside the Hotel….too cold to eat out but enjoyed a simple meal in the hotel and retired…..a great day all around!!!