Monday morning started with some life admin for the van, the AdBlue light had come up on the dash and we needed to get some coolant, of course these things combined well with coffee and breakfast, so by late morning we were on the road again.
It’s a short drive from Barcelona to Montserrat, winding in a west nor westerly direction from the heart of Catalan culture. If Barcelona is the heart of Catalan culture, then Montserrat is its soul, calling Catalans deeply.
The name Montserrat literally means serrated mountains, and is a name aptly applied. The serrations pop out of the landscape, jutting in gravity defying directions, as the pink conglomerate stone dominates the horizon.
The Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat was founded in 1080 and has needed to be rebuilt several times (Napoleon burned, sacked and murdered most of the inhabitants in the 1700s, and the Nazis had a go in WW2). The Spanish Civil war, also affected the abbey greatly, not so much in the building, but that the church was highly repressed and many priests were murdered at this time.
After the noise and heat of Barcelona, Montserrat was peaceful and much cooler. There were plenty of visitors to the monastery, it is a place where all Catalans make pilgrimage to, as well as international travellers. But the noise and bustle of Barcelona was gone, making it a strikingly different place to be.
From Montserrat, we pointed the van northwards to the princapacity of Andorra, in the heart of the Pyrenees. Neither Lesley nor i knew what to expect of Andorra. I’ve read a lot of WW2 novels telling stories of SOE agents escaping over the Pyrenees to Spain, and Jewish refugees using this route to escape the horrors of the holocaust, so I was keen to learn more of this gutsy little country.
With a population of around 87,000 and a mountainous land area of just under 500sq kms, much of Andorra is terraced into the valley lines of the mountains, with three main roads and only two out of the country. Run in partnership between France and Spain, Andorra is oddly not part of the EU (so our SIM cards aren’t working here!) and is a tax haven. This is evident in its large banking industry and fuel prices.
We are exploring Andorra on Tuesday, so there will be more at this time, so you get pictures of dinner, Lesley chose best last night!
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