Barcelona [part II]

On Sunday, we took day trip to Montserrat, a multi-peaked mountain and monastery an hour train ride outside Barcelona.

Our day got off to somewhat of a rough start (i.e. waiting on the wrong platform for the train to take us out of the city and completely failing to realize we'd missed the train until forever after it left.) We remedied the situation by picking up a few bottles of wine and drinking them, European style, on the steps of a museum (I know y'all are ready for me to get over myself.)

We finally boarded our train and rode out of the city, where we were greeted with lush landscapes, a rushing river and tall, bald mountains.

We opted to take a cable car up the mountain and hiked as far as our lungs could take us.

Montserrat translates literally to serrated mountain - the peaks look like a massive knife up in the clouds. The range is peaceful and gorgeous and ethereal, a fairy tale over the bustling city below. I found out later that some of the most outstanding peaks have charismatic names like La Panxa del Bisbe, L'Elefant and El Moro. Personified nature always make me smile - I guess it appeals perfectly to the parallel sides of me that love words and the outdoors. In other words, I am the world's biggest nerd. 

If you can't tell by the way we dressed, we came TOTALLY unprepared to hike up a mountain, but decided we'd be idiots to not take advantage of the views. Needless to say, our hike was...unique, but 100 percent worth the climb.