Mont Serrat

Mont Serrat is a beautiful monastery nestled in the jagged mountains about an hour's train ride outside of BCN. Upon arriving at the little train station, I was amazed at how tall the jagged peaks were. I could barely make out the buildings as they are made of the same stone they sit on and blend in very well. We took a 'basket' as professor Vidal called it (air gondola) to the top of the peaks...it was an almost uneasy experience, but very cool! The gondola is the tiny yellow speck in the picture below. The monastery blends in w/ the mountains in its vertical form as wellThe first thing we did on top was get a coffee, then we headed to mass...(the first one I had attended in months :/)The Church was beautiful, but I later found out that the facade pictured below was built in the 1800s. The original building was almost completely destroyed by Napoleon and his troops.After mass, we got a private tour of the entire complex. It was awesome, most people don't get this kind of tour.The smaller 'back' chapel is pictured above. Gaudi had a hand in designing it, although I wouldn't be able to tell from just lookingWe also got to touch the hand on the "Black Mary" statue. A strange, but beautiful piece that is noting like any Mary statue I have ever seen.Our group on the tour...Next, took a cog rail type tram to the very top of the mountains to eat lunch and explore.
The view...Some pretty flowers that somehow managed to grow out of the rocky earth.Me and Ben discussing somethingThe last thing we did before descending the mountain and going back to real life and worrying about the final was hiked on a crazy trail that hugged the sides of the rocks and was lined with statues depicting the Passion.

The iconic rock formation well know to M.S...I forgot the name of it now.The was by far my favorite structure on Mont Serrat. It is a chapel at the end of the trail that sort of become one w/ the rocks. Inside, the part that is against the rocks is just open to it and has a little niche carved out. It was spectacular. Mont Serrat was a great idea for a trip. It was the last chance for us to all do something outside BCN as a group, and it gave us all a chance to relax a bit and forget about our projects.