We picked up a rental car from Hertz in the mall next door. We were scheduled to pick up the car at 10 am but didn't get it until closer to noon due the slow process they have. Once on the road we quickly found out how difficult it is to drive in spain without a really good quality map. The highway signs here have a ton of information on them. To the point where you have to slow down in order to read all your options. In obviously got lost a couple of time but we eventually made it to Montserrat.
Our chariot for the day...
The ideal path for today's adventure. Clearly this is not exactly how we did it :)...
Montserrat is a mountain top monastery in Catalonia, Spain. Situated atop an unusual rock mountain. The monastery is located at a height of 700m but the rock fromation exceed 1,224 meters (4, 000 feet). There are a couple of way to get up to the monastery, a train that hugs the side of the mountains (takes about 20 minutes to reach the top) or a cable car. We choose the train primarily cause we didn't know where the cable car station was. Once at the monastery there are a ton of things to do/read. The most interesting is to take the funicular to the top of the mountain.The ride is VERY steep but when you get there its beautiful. At the top you have three trail options, each in various lengths, degree of difficulty and change in elevation.
Lots of cool pics from Montserrat...
Lets start with a "ground" level of view of where were going.
Required pictures of the monestary... but let me honest the top of the mountain is where everyone really want to be.
Now for the cool pictures...
Picture of me taking the second picture.
Frank and I on two different peaks at the same time.
Another peak...
From Montserrat we are headed to Torres winery near Vilafranca. We made it to the very last tour (5pm). The tour starts out with a 15 minute video detailing the history of the vineyard. Then you enter a "smells of the seasons" tunnel, where they project a short video of 4 distinct seasons in spain. As the seasons appear they pump in different scents for each season. Pretty cool actually. Next up is a train/trolley around the complex, kinda dissapointing. Finally it ends with a wine tasting. In general the wines are good but nothing to write home about. Although my opinion on wine doesn't mean a whole considering how little I know about them. :)
Pics from Torres...
With the winery behind us, it is time to figure out a plan for dinner. Tonight we will be dinning in Sitges. As it turns out the 42nd Annual International Film Festival was going on. The restaurant for tonight is, El Jardin. Its an Argentinean steak house. My rib eye was fantastic and finally cook properly. BTW, for some reason steaks in Barcelona almost always come out RARE, so if you don't like your meat that way figure out how to say (steak temperature) in Spanish.
The trip home from Sitges was fairly uneventful from a driving perspective. Turned the car in and the day is over...
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