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| Looking down, as we walk toward the cathedral, we see clouds with the sun above. |
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| Brilliant blue skies over the beautiful monastery of Montserrat. |
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| Distant mountains hidden by clouds, with blue sky above them. |
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| Driving down from the monastery, re-entering the clouds. |
Following our Spain-Portugal-Canary Islands cruise with Royal Caribbean, we took advantage of a shore excursion the ship offered to the beautiful monastery in the midst of
Parc Natural de la Muntanya de Montserrat. (If you don't recognize the language as Spanish, French or English, it is Catalan, the second official language of Catalunya.) About an hour from the Barcelona Airport (El Prat de Llobregat), high in the foothills of the Pyrenees, is an abbey and a boys' school. It is an amazing and fascinating place, surrounded by rounded cliffs of bare pink conglomerate sedimentary rock. The Benedictine abbey is located on one of the ledges of Mount Montserrat, and is the home of Santa Marie de Montserrat, the black Madonna and child. Catalans to this day believe the Madonna possesses spiritual powers and that the wooden statue was carved by Luke in Jerusalem and brought to Spain by Peter. The complex, which was under construction from the 11th to the 15th century, contains the monastery, a library, a cathedral and an art museum with works by El Greco, Picasso and Dali.
Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies
