Montserrat.

The mountain monastery at Montserrat is about an hour away from Sitges and we thought that as we have, in Manel, our very own tame Spanish tourist guide it would be a good idea to use the hire car and venture out on Tuesday.

Our first view of the stunning mountains (Montserrat = serrated mountain) came into focus for us as the clouds lifted to reveal the peaks. 

The road to the monastery is 9 kilometres long as it climbs from the valley floor below.

The views from the monastery are wonderful and, given that the weather was not perfect, we had some far reaching scenery on offer.

Doug and Manel with Spain in the background.

It’s hard to descibe the surreal atmosphere of the monastery as it sits perilously on the mountain side.  The low cloud made things feel even stranger.

There is a cable car to transfer visitors from the valley floor to the monastery, if they don’t want to negotiate the road, and a rack and pinion railway to take you to lower and higher levels from the monastery car park.

We were lucky it wasn’t the tourist season and the weather wasn’t at it’s best – it seemed at times that we were the only ones there.

This is the inner courtyard and the entrance to the Basilica of St Mary.

It is indeed a beautiful space inside the Basilica.

The white smoke didn’t denote that they had a new Pope but it looked like it!

We had a terrific day out and much thanks to Manel, who was a God-send with his translation!

Today we stayed in the Sitges area, catching up with some friends who live in this lovely town, and then taking a good long walk along the seafront.

Again, the weather was not great but the wide beaches ……..

…….. and the stunning villas facing onto the beach all along …….

…….. the southern sea front made the walk a pleasure.

After a sit down at the end …….

……. and a look back towards Sitges, we took the same walk back – stopping for lunch half way along.  Tomorrow is our last day before a late flight back to the UK – if the weather improves it may even be a beach day (our first!).