Life’s an ocean with too much commotion

After a long sleep from the visit yesterday, I went to Tibidabo, in the north of Barcelona.

The trip on itself is a real adventure. First I had to take the metro to Placa Catalunya. At the station, I went on the train (FGC, Line 7) to Avinguda Tibidabo. There I took a 100 year old tram that goes halfway up the mountain. Once there, you have to take the cremallera (a rack railway) that goes straight to the cathedral and the city fair.

This picture has been taken halfway up the mountain, at the tram station. There’s a little pub that has a very nice overview of Barcelona, through it’s open window. I ordered a beer there and sit there for an hour or so. It’s the ideal height for seeing a lot of details of Barcelona and still having a nice overview of the city.

Once on the top, you have the city fair with some retro attractions. You also have some restaurants, the communications tower and the cathedral. The communications tower is open for entrance (not free), but as going more up didn’t give me better pictures or a better view, I haven’t done it.

At 5PM I went back to the center to pick up Tanja. We walked around a bit and went to Les Quinze Nits again. This time I ordered some meat (as I ate fish during the whole week).

Tibidabo on itself is nothing special. Going your way up on the mountain is pretty cool as you gradually see more and more of Barcelona, so it was a good day spent

After four days of walking a lot, my feet and legs were really tired. Nevertheless, this was the only day I could visit the Monestir of Montserrat. My girlfriend would go lunching with her colleagues so I had the whole day for myself (okay, this sounds like she really gives the shots, maybe it’s a partially true ).
First I went to the bakery and ate some breakfast, then I headed for Placa Espanya. Train R5 (FGC train to Manresa) heads in the direction of Montserrat.

If you want to take the Cremallera de Montserrat – a rack railway train – up to Montserrat, you should get off at Monestir station. Otherwise, using the cable car you should get off at Aeri de Montserrat station.
For both transport ways, you can buy a combination ticket at Placa Espanya. I don’t know what the combination ticket for line R5 + cable car costs. A combination retour ticket using the cremallera costs 14,90 euros. The trip to Montserrat itself takes about 70 minutes.

You shouldn’t plan a day trip to Montserrat if you’re not very religious or hoping on some healing miracle. The only thing you can visit there is the Black Madonna, the cathedral and maybe the museum. I stood for one hour in a queue for touching the Black Madonna, took some pictures in the cathedral and bought two candles. Some trails are starting at Montserrat that go across the mountains, which gives you hours and hours of real walking pleasure. I didn’t have the time because I needed to get back to Barcelona.

In the evening we went to a Tapas bar, Taller de Tapas (Plaza Sant Joseph Oriol 9, near Plaza del Pi). For about 30 euros you can chose five different kinds of tapas (calamares, croquettes, mussels, …). It was delicious and more than enough for two people!