Montserrat (Spain)

Another day trip: Montserrat.  Montserrat is a huge chain of mountains about an hour train ride away from Barcelona.  It is actually a pretty cool place as you need to take RailRack trains and cable cars to access the Sanctuary.  When you get in the mountain, there is a small village with a basilica, stores, restaurants, and hotels, but it is pretty small... similar to a small resort.  What is so amazing about Montserrat is that it is a gigantic mountain with trails all over it leading to a bunch of different lookouts, chapels, hermitage sites,... The trails are located over 4,000 feet in the air.  It is crazy high, and you can overlook other mountains and villages at the foot of the mountain.  From the sanctuary, you can go up or down to reach the trails... you can either walk it or take funiculars to get to the top and then take the trails to hike.  It is a heck of a hike, you better bring your hiking shoes, they will be needed!!  Most trails take an hour to three to walk there and back.

We spent the whole day going from one trail to the other - Mom and matante Jeanne definitely didn't follow the whole time!  Some of the trails are very steep, rocky, narrow - you have to be super careful, some of them don't have too much protection so you don't fall.   Great day in the outdoors, but definitely exhausting!!

Definitely one of the best spots we visited during the trip!  It was just really cool and different!

Barcelona (Spain)

Third stop in Spain... Barcelona!  Definitely a beautiful place - I actually enjoyed it more than Madrid.  There is so much life in that huge city it is crazy!  Beautiful riverfront, beaches, millions of monuments, museums, shows, and touristy entertainment.  If you go to Barcelona, definitely map out what you want to see, because there are so many things, you won't be able to see them all!  We took a day tour bus pass in order to hit the attractions that were a little further in the city... cut a lot of walking and saved us a lot of time!

The main places you want to see in Barcelona are definitely: The Port, The old Olympic sites, La Casa Mila, Poble Espanyol de Montjuic, MNAC, Mountain Montjuic, The Magic Fountain of Montjuic, Las Ramblas, Casa Batllo, Park Guell, the Cathedral, and of course la Sagrada Familia!  There is so much Gaudi architecture, it is incredible and you'll never see anything like it!  The Poble Espanyol is a very sharp place to visit - they recreated the various regions of Spain within a little village.  La Casa Mila and Casa Batllo are really cool looking, but it is very expensive and the lines are really long... we personally didn't go in as we were told it is not really worth the time and money (unless you are a huge fan of Gaudi).   Las Ramblas is just a street packed with people, terraces, and little shops... It's a pretty cool place to be, but be careful as it is packed with tourists.  And finally the Sagrada Familia.  This basilique is incredible!!! There are actually no way to describe what we saw there as there is just too much.  The architecture in the front is different than the back, the inside is the complete opposite to the outside, the details are ridiculous... This is the unfinished masterpiece you want to go see in Barcelona.

During our stay, we also went to see a Flamenco show.  Even though Flamenco is a Southern Spain tradition, they offer shows in the major touristy areas.  They are not as traditional as in the South of Spain, but they are still pretty good.  - Flamenco is not something for everyone, but I think its pretty sharp and everyone should see it at least once.

We had beautiful stay in Barcelona - the weather was great!  But like every other major city we visited, we did a little day trip outside of town.  Next stop: Montserrat!

El Escorial (Spain)

After visiting Madrid for a couple days, we decided to make a little trip outside the city and go visit El Escorial.  El Escorial is a monastery about an hour outside of Madrid, in a small town, at the foot of the mountains.  To get there, you must take the train and hike up to the monastery - it's quite a hike, going all uphill for about 15-20 minutes.  The monastery is huge!  It's a pretty standard monastery for the most part, but has many cool features too - they have a whole section dedicated to how they designed and constructed the place.  But the best feature is by far the crypt...  from the floor to the ceiling, marble and gold!  It is absolutely gorgeous!!  Unfortunately, no pictures allowed inside the building.

The Monastery is so big that it takes pretty much the whole day if you want to visit the entire place.  They have huge gardens, a school, and a church within the place.  It was definitely worth the day trip out of the city!  After visiting, we walked around the village - there's not a whole lot to see, but its a very small, quiet, cute village.

Madrid (Spain)

After France and England - Next Stop... my home, Spain.  Our first stop was Madrid - unfortunately, we didn't get the greatest weather there, lots of rain and cold.

This round in Madrid was actually my 3rd time there, so I was starting the know the sites pretty well.  Its a really easy place to visit... a lot of walking, but not a lot of distance.  Not a whole lot to actually visit either - just things to see and walk by.  There are a million monuments, plazas, and gardens to visit.  Madrid has this huge garden called Retiro Park - it could take you the whole day to visit it.  There are many little hidden buildings in the park that are pretty cool to see.  We also did a cable car ride over the city and into the mountains not too far.  Madrid, like every other places, involved many terraces for drinks and afternoon breaks!

Unfortunate that we didn't get better weather, but the city is still a nice place to visit and many things to see.

Brighton (England)

Sorry about the delay on the blogging, the last couple months in Spain were a little crazy with exams, school, and everybody leaving.

Due to the fact that the Royal Wedding was taking place during our stay in London, we decided that it would probably be a good idea if we left the city and visited something else - so we decided to visit Brighton.  Brighton is a small city in the South of England, on the waterside.

Brighton was really nice and quiet.  We spent the day walking the waterfront - the beaches there are rocky, not sandy.  They also have 2 huge piers, which both burnt a couple years ago - one being completely re-built, with a theme park on it.  At the time of the Royal Wedding, we went and sat in on of the pubs on the pier and watched it like the rest of the world.

Brighton is not a huge place to visit, but it was nice, cozy, relaxing, and very pretty.

Windsor (England)

If you go to London, a day-trip to Windsor is clearly a must.  It's a cute small town again.  There you can find the Windsor Castle, home of the Queen.  Its a pretty cool place to see, especially if you get a glance of the Queen.  Like Versailles, it's worth sticking around the village and checking it out.  Not that much to do, but it is very cozy compared to London.

London (England)

After a long train ride, we finally made it to London - where unfortunately, our hotels needed a little bit of upkeep.

The very next morning we headed out to tour the city.  The city is huge, and the metro is definitely the best way to get around (unless you're staying in the centre, where the prices are crazy).  If you plan on doing a lot of sightseeing and visiting places, the London Pass is a great idea!  Plus you can get it including the transportation.  Its a little pricy, but you make your money back really fast.  

We got to check out all the major sites again: Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Buckingham... The city was just packed with people!  As we were there over the week of the Royal Wedding, the whole city was in the centre.... absolutely ridiculous!  One site you must check out is the St.Paul's Cathedral, where Lady Di was married.  It is probably the most beautiful church we've seen in Europe!

London was not the best weather, but it didn't rain!  It's a beautiful city, but just huge!  It has 6 times the population of Paris - so crowded!  Again, put your hiking boots on, because every tourist site there has stairs and once in the centre, it is much easier to walk everywhere or metro.  To reach the top of Saint Paul's, 530 stairs, the top of the Monument, over 311.

There are also a million plays/musicals happening in London.  If you go and walk around, you can find some for pretty cheap.  We had the opportunity to go to Wicked, which was great!