"Leaving on a fast train..................

......don't know when I'll be back again." Hum along with Peter, Paul and Mary.  With regret I leave Barcelona.  I love this city.  We barely scratched the surface.  Instead of focusing on all the sights we didn't see, I have to remember everything we experienced.  After getting my allergy meds from the farmacia, I was able to enjoy myself thoroughly. Here are a few of the highlights:

To get to the Picasso Museum, we walked through the Barri Gotic  (Gothic Quarter) early in the morning.  I loved seeing young children with their parents walk to school through the narrow alleys.  As we got closer to the museum, I paused to take some photos of the charming restaurant fronts, and graffiti filled shuttered stores.

By day the shops look charming - like this one.

After the shops close they look like this.  It's hard to remember what charming shop lies hidden behind these doors.

As I took my pictures, Taylor called my attention to a shop that I missed.  Low and behold, it was a yarn store!!!  I sometimes miss these, but Taylor always seems to zero in on them.  It was too early for the shop to be open, and when we went back after Picasso, it was still closed.  It's a good thing I have my knitting with me and didn't need to make a purchase.

Later that day, we mastered the Metro to get ourselves to the Sagrada Familia -  Gaudi's unfinished cathedral.  I can't find words for it, and it was hard to fight other photographers to take decent pictures.  It was also hard to feel holy, and generous with the huge crowds of noisy tourists.

Here's the main altar.  Follow the columns up.  Notice that they branch apart like the limbs of trees.  The idea is for the worshiper to feel as if he is in a forest.  I'm not sure I felt I was in a forest, but I was in awe.

Religion is huge in Spain.  As if we didn't have enough church viewing in Barcelona, we took the train to Montserat.  This was an adventure because we took a train, a cable car and two different funiculars to visit this mountain monastery.  It was well worth the effort and we got to hike as well.  I'm afraid our walking through the streets of Portland didn't prepare us for clambering up and down these hills.  We figured if aging hermits could make it to their caves, so could we.  Can you find me in front of the Chapel of St Joan, in the top picture?  And there is Taylor getting ready to explore the actual caves where St Joan (John the Baptist) and St Onofrio were next door neighbors. We took the funicular up the mountain, and then hiked to see the caves.  Thrilling.

Chapel of Saint Joan.

Stairs to the hermits' caves are on the left.

 I'm checking out the remains of one of the two saints' caves.  It's hard to imagine that anyone would live here unless he was planning to die soon.  It would be really hard to find food and water.  The shelter was minimal.

This is what the monastery looks like from the funicular coming down from the Chapel of St Joan.

And now it's time to experience Madrid!!!