Montserrat

Recovering from a sunburn I got from the three hours spent on the beach yesterday, (it was cloudy when we got there! of course I wasn´t wearing sunscreen), we went to see Montserrat, this big church up on a mountain. I was slightly hesitant about going, not sure if it would be worth the €15 round trip train ticket. Glad I went though.

It was a somewhat cloudy day, but the temperature kept it reasonable (maybe 70 degrees?) and allowed us to make a nice hike up to Sant Jeroni, the 1,236m highest peak above the church. We were nearly above the clouds when we summited, but they cleared out and provided some decent views on the way down.

Really cool. Saw some legit rock climbers ascending other formations. Pretty jealous of them--it has been a long time since I went climbing outdoors.

Barcelona has been a good city, quite different from Madrid. A lot less formal, but more touristy, much more... but also more like home/California. Except I´m not sure where I´d go biking if I lived here, it must take a while to actually get outside of the city. I´m missing the bike a lot, especially after seeing the Tour come through and occasionally seeing more and more cyclists. Everyone be ready to spend an awesome fall mountain biking. I´m ready to go.

Next on Africa Africa Africa:
We fly to Marrakech, Morocco on the 14th, and are there until the 26th. Going to climb Jebel Toubkal, the highest peak in Morocco at 4165m. Seeing Marrakech, Imlil, and Essaouria mostly, with a bus over to the other side of the mountains to see some other towns.