Barcelona and the Santa Maria de Montserrat: November 16, 2023

So, there we were this morning on yet another bus, driving through Barcelona to reach the Montserrat Monastery just thirty miles northwest of the city. As my mother always said, some people are just gluttons for punishment. The Benedictine Monastery, which was founded in the 11th century, houses the Virgin of Montserrat, one of the most famous Madonna statues in the world. In 1844 Pope Leo XIII declared the Virgin of Montserrat the patroness of Catalonia, so that’s pretty cool. The most notable thing about the monastery is the setting on the top of a range of jagged mountains–Montserrat literally translates to serrated mountains. Our tour guide, Olga, said the word “serrated” at least 20 times before I stopped counting. Olga also said the mountains were “steepy.”

The Madonna statue sits behind a sheet of glass. However, one of her hands is holding a sphere (which symbolises the universe) and is not behind the glass. It is tradition for you to touch the Virgin’s hand when you pass by the statue so that is, of course, what we did.

Spain is made up of 17 autonomous regions known as ‘Comunidades Autónomas’. Catalonia, where Barcelona is, is one of the regions. Catalan’s have their own language and culture, and if the rest of them are anything like Olga, they can’t stand the Spanish government. In 2017, Catalonia leaders made a bid to secede from Spain. Nine of the 12 accused received prison sentences for the crimes of sedition; of them, four were also found guilty of misuse of public funds. Their sentences ranged from 9 to 13 years. So, just what we needed. More talk about contentious politics while on vacation.

When we were driving through Barcelona, Doug took this picture of the iconic Christopher Columbus statue built in 1888. Columbus is supposed to be pointing towards the New World, America, but he is actually pointing towards Algeria. The most accepted reason for this is that at the time, it was thought that it wouldn’t be appropriate, or aesthetically pleasing, to have Columbus pointing at the ground and not towards the sea.

One of the things I have noticed when cruising is that people who are trying to be friendly (or boastful) ask the same questions: Where are you from? (basic question); Have you traveled on this cruise line before? (yes). Where did you go? (trick question). This final question is the one that turns everything into a one-upmanship contest. Someone can always top you on how many times they have been to Barcelona, how many cruises they have taken, blah, blah, blah. I haven’t yet come up with a pithy-shut-it-down comeback, but I am open to all suggestions.