SPAIN---VISITS TO A WINERY & MOUNTSERRAT MONASTERY (MY BIRTHDAY!) JULY 3RD

 For my birthday, my incredibly kind, sweet friend Diego planned two wonderful visits: The first to the winery of Freixenet; the second, to the extraordinary monastery of Montserrat...both on the outskirts of Barcelona.


The Montserrat monastery, one of the best--and most famous--attractions of the Barcelona area.

The winery of Freixenet was one which only produced "cava", the Spanish equivalent of champagne. Funnily enough, when I asked about this, I was told that the Spaniards REALLY look down their noses on the French champagne, believing that their cava is vastly superior!!

Montserrat was positively spectacular. Although it was fairly touristic, it didn't detract from the beauty and wonder of this place... and I had many fabulous experiences there. 

In short, I enjoyed both visits immensely... more explanations with the photos below!


First, Freixenet: a tour followed by tasting of the cava...

The cava was good, to be sure...we sampled two different varieties. But the best part was the companionship of Diego! We had a long "lunch" of sorts at the winery, sipping our cava and eating a strange sort of Spanish omelet that was more of a potato torte!

The grape: fruit of the gods! But more importantly, the beauty of what it becomes! 

Our wonderful tour guide shows us the gamut of cava bottles the winery produces! Diego and I speculated that the largest--probably about 20 liters--must require some kind of machinery to lift it and pour out the cava! Really crazy... 


Here, you can see our potato "omelet"... it definitely was a unique Catalan version! 


Next...onward to Monserrat, a monastery built in the 12th century. It involved a pretty significant climb up into the mountains. The weather was strange: cloudy and windy, but only mildly cool..apparently not untypical for this region, even though it was July! The scenery was quite spectacular...












This was a little chapel we passed on our way up to the large monastery. I found it quite charming. 




The views and scenery as we climbed--and from the very top--were all magnificent! 










As you can see, the monastery itself was built right into the side of the mountain...most impressive! 




Incredible views of the valley below


The rest of the photos were of the interior, which I got to see the next day, on the 4th. It was exquisitely beautiful, with many tiled murals, much gold, stained glass and other breath-taking features. Unfortunately, because there were so many visitors, we were ushered through rather quickly. Even so, I am very pleased with this series... you get a sense of just how spectacular it was! 








































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