Day 18
Day trip to Montserrat, a feast of "Calcotada" and Sitges.
Went to bed at 5 in the morning (new post on Barcelona night life to follow!) and had to wake up at 8 for an excursion to the mountain monastery of Montserrat and the ocean town of Sitges.
It was definitely nice to get away from the city for a day. Montserrat was beautiful - tucked away on the side of a mountain. I always thought that monks weren't allowed contact with people. I found it kind of interesting that their lifestyle was on display for tourists. They even had a basketball court outside their living quarters, so I'm guessing they play some pretty mad hoops. There were also people selling cheese. Random. I didn't eat any because cheese gives me the creeps. (And reference picture to the right haha). Now that I think about it, I wish I knew what the significance of this scuplture was because now all I have to say about it is...I wanted to climb this pile of blocks all the way to the top, but everyone got nervous saying it was too high and I could get hurt. I got a little annoyed, because I obviously knew I could climb to the top, but since they're new friends, I had to pretend to be appreciative of their concern. Austin, if you had been there, you would have been all encouraging and probably laughed when I got stuck at the top. We'll have to go back one day so I can stand at the top wearing a cape billowing in the wind like a superhero. Yup. :)
Part two of the journey was a meal of "Calcotada". What exactly is that, you ask? Yikes a bees, it was the most ridiculous meal I have ever eaten. It was something straight off the food network or travel channel. Apparently, it's a big spanish tradition. Calcot is a spring onion that is grown locally and is then cooked on open flame to serve. It's impossible to eat this and not end up being covered in ashes - hilarious. The look of horror on the boys faces when they thought this was the only part of our meal for the day made me laugh out loud. The calcot was then followed by grilled peppers, bread, grilled eggplant, grilled artichoke, salad, sausage, french fries, and ice cream. Quite honestly, I think they only threw the fries in the mix because we're American. I didn't see any other table being served french fries. I didn't complain mmmm potatoes!!!!
Once the food coma set in, we headed off to the ocean town of Sitges, about 45 minutes outside Barcelona. We walked along the beach, joined some little kids in a game of futbol, and played with the dogs - uhhhh, BEST DAY EVER.
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