We took a tour of the rather large estate, learning how they distilled the wine and brandies and the many different grapes they use to create each wine. They have around 100 different varieties of grapes.
I tried about 3 different wines and to my knowledge my first brandy. They were all great and I can't wait to be classy and go to a winery again.
That night we went to dinner at around 10pm and then headed for a discoteca around 12:30. We got a little mixed up on the metro, but we made it around 1. It was hoppin, techno/house was blaring and I was in the zone. It was so much fun and the house was right up my alley. We are planning on going again later this week.
Saturday morning we boarded a train for Montserrat. It is a monastery an hour outside of Barcelona which is atop a mountain. So we get off the train and had to take a cable car up the mountain. Montserrat has been active since the 9th century.
At the end of the line we found that along with a basilica and a monastery, Montserrat has a school, hotel, eateries, museum, printing press, and hiking trails. We kind of walked around the town a little bit learning about the history of Montserrat.
Montserrat is important for 2 reasons. The first being that it houses the black virgin of Montserrat which was purportedly brought over to Spain by St. Luke in 50 A.D. and was found to be immobile so they built the basilica around it. The black virgin of Monserrat has been connected with many miracles and is one of the most pilgrimaged sites in Spain.
The second reason it is important is because it is the place where St. Ignatius layed down his sword and went on to found the Jesuit order.
After we did all there was to do in Montserrat, we decided to trek up the hill. After first we promised it would only be 15 minutes. But as we got further into our hike, it became apparent that we have come too far to not make it to the top. We did.
No comments:
Post a Comment