We went up a mountain

The Mountain, the world calls it that even if they are not a very high mountain, is situated North of Barcelona, (read the wiki here). But we did not go to the mountain to climb we were off to see the Monastery (wiki here) and ride the Funicular to the top.

Starting at the railway station, just three hundred yards from the hotel we arrived at platform 3 to wait for the R5 train. This train is a local train that runs hourly and passes through the stations that lead to Montserrat. Before one goes to the Monastery there are a couple of decisions to be made. Inn order to get to the place there are two ways of doing so - a cable car or a rack railway. There are different stops for each. Secondly when one buys the ticket at the machine, or in the kiosk, you have to decide what kind of combination ticket you want - the basic ride, the basic ride with Funicular rides, or the combination that gives you access to some sites.

The train ride is an hour long and takes at least half an hour to get out of Barcelona into the suburbs, twenty minutes of the half hour is spent in the underground subway, occasionally emerging for sunshine. The scenery is pretty scrubby until about ten minutes before the first stop, which is the cable car, and then it opens into a green valley alongside a gungy brown river. On arrival at the Monistrol station we transfer to the rack railway (wiki here) that will take us up the mountain. The five kilometre route takes fifteen minutes to ride and hugs the outside of the mountain all the way to the Monastery. On the way up it was tough to get a seat but the way down the car was empty, but for us. Bet the last car off the mountain would have been chaotic!

Disembarking at the Station we then tried to orient ourselves with the guide in the Guru's book. Moved through the Main Square and saw the Basilica. We also saw a closed sign "due to religious services". Deciding that the inside of the Basilica (wiki here) was yet another Church we walked over to the Funicular (wiki here) building for the ride to the top, where hikers and ramblers will then move on to the next site a Holy Shrine - a twenty minute walk).

This Funicular is 503 metres long, rises 248 metres and rides at an angle of 65.2 degrees - the steepest funicular in Spain. Goes every twenty minutes and takes five minutes to ride. We arrived to see at least twenty-five Grade 2 kids waiting in line, the line looked pretty small from the outside until you realised that these kids took up very little space in the lineup - we had to wait for the next one.

The amenities at the top were sparse and really only were a stepping stone for the walkers, so we took piccies and waited for the next car down. Rick the Guru had told us that there were plenty of eating places so heading off for one we then had the chance to sit down after all the standing and waiting. This was only going to be a snack as we have fallen into the habit of eating big in the evening, even though the big meal in Spain takes place between two and four in the afternoon.

It was now time to reverse the trip and make the big train at the bottom of the mountain and into Barcelona. As the trains were coordinated in departure times there was little waiting around and we boarded an almost empty train for the Barcelona ride.

That was the adventure for the day - back to the room for wine and cheese and then back to the restaurant, scoped out earlier on the walk back to the hotel.