Montserrat

Thirty miles northwest of Barcelona a rocky ridge rises abruptly to 4000 feet. Strange, rocky formations give it a saw-toothed or serrated appearance – hence its name: Montserrat. This is the holy mountain of Catalunya, locus for so much Catalan religious and folk lore.

Here, in the 9th century shepherd children saw a bright light descend from the sky and heard angels sing, drawing them to a cave where they discovered a statue of the Madonna, said to have been carved by St. Luke, brought to Spain, and hidden here from the Moors. Here, a monastery founded in the 11th century, high up the cliff, became a major pilgrimage site for veneration of that Black Madonna (still on display today). Here, the knight who slew the daughter of Wilfred the Hairy fled, filled with remorse, to become the first hermit of Montserrat. Here, a dragon let loose in Catalunya by the Saracens, flew when it was under attack, before Wilfred the Hairy, or his father (accounts differ), finally slew it (the exploit celebrated in the portal sculpture at the Barcelona cathedral). On its slopes in 1808 a thousand Catalan irregulars defeated four thousand of Napoleon’s troops at the battle of Bruc because the sounds of a little drummer boy echoing off the rocks misled the troops into thinking they were facing a much larger force. And here Wagner, never one to overlook a good myth, set his opera Parsifal.

We had driven past Montserrat on our trips to France and Andalucía, but had never visited the place itself until we went last week with Cheryl and Charles. Access is by cable car, which offers great views of the countryside below.
According to a plaque, the cable car system was built in 1930 by a company from Leipzig, Germany; judging by appearance the cable car itself may be original equipment.

The monastery itself was destroyed by Napoleonic troops in 1812 (their revenge on the little drummer boy?). The rebuilt complex is itself of little aesthetic interest, but the natural setting is spectacular.
We first visited the basilica for the mid-day concert of Escolonia, the monastery's boys choir that was founded in the 13th century. Which was followed by the performance of a visiting choir. From Cincinnati.

Afterwards we enjoyed a picnic with a view.















Well fed, we took a funicular close to the top of the ridge, from where one can look down on the monastery and countryside further below.
Hiking trails lead off in various directions, with views of the rock formations and surrounding country.












Cheryl and Charles pause on the trail.
Many of the trails lead to small hermitages scattered among the rock outcroppings.
It was not difficult to understand why the Catalans are so fond of this place.

Visitors - Cheryl & Charles, Dancing Eggs and more

Our most recent visitors have been Cheryl - Pat's roomate from Georgetown U days - and her husband Charles. We visited them in El Paso when we traveled back to Albuquerque for Christmas, and fortunately they could return the visit in Barcelona.

Roomates on the move in the Barri Gótic!
They were here over the weekend of Corpus Christi, and on their first foray downtown Cheryl collected a brochure of related events that we could attend.

First up were visits to the 16th century tradition of l'ou com balla - dancing eggs: emptied eggshells balanced on water jets from decorated fountains (although one suspects the eggshells are plastic these days). These were on display in many places in the old city.

A little boy was fascinated at the Palau Resquesens.
As were we...
We also saw a dancing egg at the fountain in the courtyard of the old palace of the Counts of Barcelona (now the Museu Frederick Mares).
And closely inspected the one in the courtyard of the Viceroy's Palace.
An added bonus was that several places usually inaccessible were open.

The gothic Palau Resquesens, which is built against the Roman walls.
And the upper level of the 12C-15C Casa de l'Ardiaca, next to the Cathedral.
On Sunday we went down to see the Corpus Christi procession. Appropriately, there were plenty of traditional Catalan elements mixed with the ecclesiastical. Gigantes and other fantastical creatures left from the Ajuntament to proceed to the Placa in front of the Cathedral where they took up their place at the beginning of the procession.
No Catalan festival would be complete without castellers, who did a little tower constructing before moving off in the procession.
The ecclesiastical part of the procession was led by two riders on horseback, which posed a predictable risk - but BCNeta (clean Barcelona) was at the ready, following right behind with both human and mechanical street cleaners. It immediately was evident this was prudent.
Unfortunately, their efforts did as much to distribute as to remove the horses' contribution.

This resulted in some diversion - and sideways glances - by the altar boys who were next in the procession.
Those who remember the Catalan cagoner figures shown in the blog post from before Christmas may wonder if this wasn't all just a traditionally irreverent component of a Catalan procession.

Finally, to be sure traditional elements had equal prominence with the ecclesiastical, castellers saluted the monstrance as it passed.
It all made for a Corpus Christi procession with real Catalan flavor.

Tamariu

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to be invited to party given for Ruth Davis. Ruth, who recently retired after a long, wonderful career at the State Department, was the U.S. Counsel General in Barcelona in the early 1990s, where she obviously made many good friends. We got to know Ruth through Margaret Simms, who in 1991 and 1992 came to visit us in Paris and Ruth in Barcelona.

The party was at a house near the small town of Tamariu on the Costa Brava, a 90 minute drive north of Barcelona. The setting was spectacular.

It was a lively and interesting group, which gathered on the lawn to talk and take pictures.The delightful co-guest of honor, along with Ruth, was Pasqual Maragall, who was mayor of Barcelona while Ruth was Counsel General. Indeed, he was mayor from 1982 to 1997, and his administration was responsible for the rebuilding of Barcelona after the doldrums of the Franco years, and for bringing the Olympics to Barcelona in 1992.

Ruth, Pasqual, and another guest.

Pasqual with our hostess, Maria.Other guests.
The party was capped by a wonderful lunch on the lawn...
And afterwards there was coffee and more good conversation.

Visitors - Steve and Kate

Our most recent visitors have been Steve and Kate Baldwin, who made Barcelona the first stop on their European tour. From Barcelona they are traveling on to visit various other friends: in the south of France; in Stockholm; in Hereford, England; in Wales; and in Edinburgh.

While here they did a good job of visiting the sights. Setting forth one day (along with Pat) along the Passeig de Sant Joan.
They were here over a weekend, so we could visit the Ajuntament (or town hall), which is only open to the public on Sunday. A fairly uninteresting facade was added in the latter part of the 19th century, but the heart of the building dates from the 14th century.

There is a fine gothic arcade.
And gothic windows.

From here one enters the Salo de Cent, the meeting room of the Consel de Cent (the counsel of 100), which ruled medieval Barcelona.
Its elaborate ceiling was worth careful examination. Afterwards we enjoyed a fine selection of tapas.
Including calamaris a la romana (right front), gambas (left front), p'amb tomaquet (already on our plates), patatas bravas and 2 orders of ensalada con queso cabra (center).

And later they paused for a portrait before beginning dinner at our flat.

Visitors - Tim, Katherine, Jana, Miles B & Katrina

Our small flat was at maximum capacity - five guests - when Miles B and Katrina arrived a few days after Tim, Katherine, and Jana. [Perhaps Miles would argue we were slightly beyond capacity, as he had to settle for the couch, but there were no complaints.] A lively and fun time was had by all.

Upholding tradition, we went to Can Robert when T&K&J arrived.
Miles and Katrina arrived a few days later.












So we went right back to Can Robert.
Deciphering the menu written in Catalan took a little studying.





For postre (dessert), Katrina, Jana, and Tim selected los batidos: milkshakes.

Of course, Tim didn't have milkshakes on every visit; here he displays his tarte de musica, with sweet wine.


I can report that Tim, Katherine, and Jana are now the record-holders for most lunches at Can Robert during their visit -- three. Of course, as a good host I felt obliged to accompany them each time.

Along with multiple evening strolls to Sagrada Familia, and general touring of the sights of Barcelona, we found a festival where castellers were building their towers. We all went to see. They began with something we hadn't seen before - three castells built simultaneously, each with only one person per level.
And then moved on to the highest tower we had seen.
This tower also reminded us how difficult and risky the castells are. They completed the castell - this picture shows it nearly complete - but just as the top level started to climb down the tower fell - and when it started to go everyone fell at once. A pretty scary sight. It made clear why an ambulance had been standing by. As nearly as we could tell from the report we found online the next day, no one was badly injured.

During their stay, Miles and others made several trips to the local market.
Fortunately for all of us, this helped inspire Miles to prepare zarzuela - a Spanish seafood stew similar to Cioppino.
Katrina was sous chef, cutting up the fish and helping clean the shellfish -and Tim documented their work.The rest of us toasted the chefs, and enjoyed! Boy, that was good.
No leftovers from this meal - except for the shells.