(Spain) Vacation Day 5: Montserrat and Another Pope Sighting?!

We’re now on Day 5!

I’ve stopped writing these blogs at the end of the day and instead catch up whenever I have time, but I think making it from Day 1 to Day 5 with daily blog posts is already a pretty good achievement. Let’s see how long I can keep this streak going!

Today was Montserrat Day! I won’t go too deep into the history or details because Montserrat is very Google-able. Hehe. From our apartment, we walked to the bus stop, which took us to the train station, and from there we headed to Montserrat. Along the way, I snapped a few photos of Barcelona during our walk. The city is beautiful, but I figured I’d be taking plenty of scenic photos once we reached Montserrat, so I mostly kept my phone away during the bus and train rides.

Our tour guide for the day was Alberto. He was great, though I have to admit that history tours and I are not really a match made in heaven. My attention span tends to wander a little. Haha. Sorry, Alberto!

When we arrived, preparations were already underway for the Pope’s visit the following day. The Basílica de Montserrat itself was beautiful. One of the highlights was seeing the statue of Our Lady of Montserrat, positioned high above the altar.

We were also lucky enough to hear the Montserrat Boys Choir practicing for the Papal Mass. According to our guide, it is the oldest boys’ choir in Europe.

Before leaving, Ton and I each lit a candle.

Of course, we also stopped by the gift shop, picked up a magnet, sampled some bread, and tried the famous pan de coca, which our guide described as one of the local favorites. After Montserrat, we headed to Heretat Oller del Mas for lunch. The meal started with a cold soup that was meant to be mixed with olive oil. I wish I had something nice to say about it. I do not. It was gross. Hahaha. Ewww. Ugh. Bleh. I took the tiniest taste possible and immediately decided that was enough culinary adventure for one day. I don't really blame the food. It's just me. hahaha. not cultured enough to appreciate cold soup.

Thankfully, the chicken course and dessert were both delicious and more than made up for the soup experience. The meal also included 2 wine refills! So, win!

After lunch came the wine tasting tour. Unlike some people, I could not bring myself to spit out the wine after tasting it. Waste not, want not. Hahaha.

One of the wines we sampled was orange wine. It sounds fancy, but to me it tasted like sweet vinegar. I know wine enthusiasts are probably cringing right now, but that’s the best description I can come up with.

White

Red

Orange

We arrived back in Barcelona around 7:00 PM.

7:00pm!

A cousin and I immediately headed to Raima, a four-story arts and crafts store that's a must visit here in Barcelona. We only had about thirty minutes to browse until they close, but that was probably for the best. Any longer and I would have started convincing myself that I absolutely needed things that I definitely did not need.

Remember: this trip is about photographing cute things, not buying cute things. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

After Raima, we walked to Xurreria Laietana, one of the popular churros spots in Barcelona. Along the way, we passed the cathedral and naturally stopped for photos and selfies.

Then we walked past a Five Guys. My cousin Chummy asked if I wanted to eat there. Now, we have Five Guys in Saudi Arabia and eat there fairly often, but there is one important difference.There is no bacon in Saudi! So when presented with the opportunity to eat at a Five Guys with bacon, the answer was obviously yes.

We first bought a mix of large and regular churros from Xurreria Laietana, along with cups of chocolate for dipping.

Then we headed to Five Guys with the brilliant plan of eating churros and burgers together.

Inside, I ordered my usual hot dog. But now, with bacon. Yay!!!

Chummy ordered a bacon milkshake, which sounded questionable but turned out to be surprisingly good. It tasted like a vanilla milkshake with little bacon bits mixed in. Strange concept but delicious result.

A little later, Ton joined us after finishing dinner with the rest of the family. When he arrived, he mentioned that a crowd was gathering outside and that police officers were beginning to line the streets. He said that he feels like the Pope might pass by. So we watched his Mass live on YouTube, so as soon as it ended, we joined the small crowd waiting outside.

And then… He actually passed by. YESSSSS!!! Our second Pope sighting of the trip! I literally wrote in my Day 3 blog that seeing the Pope in Madrid was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Apparently not. Seeing him once was surreal enough. Seeing him twice in two different cities was something I never would have predicted when we booked this vacation.

After our unexpected Pope sighting, we finally made the walk back to our apartment and called it a night after a very long but very memorable day.

If you’ve missed the earlier parts of our Spain adventure, I’ll be linking the previous blog posts below.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

And of course, no travel update would be complete without photos of Lucky from our cat sitter.

Still cute. Still spoiled. Still very missed.