Wayfaring Day 261

March 18, 2026 Wednesday

Had had to get up early and find our way to near the Barcelona Stadium and University where our three cities tour would begin. They wanted us there at 8:10 but we were there at 7:30. We pulled out at around 8:30 right on schedule. This trip is a three part tour that includes Montaserrat, Girona and Costa Brava. It takes about eleven hours to do the tour so it is a pretty lengthy tour designed to give a good sampling of each of the three towns. The cost for two was $265.

The bus ride took about 45 minutes. Once off the freeway the drive up the mountain is beautiful and maybe a little treacherous if you are not careful. Our driver did a great job and had us at Montaserrat safely and on time. Montaserrat is like a very small village that is home to a monastery and church. There’s a hostel, museum and a gift shop. There is also a little market and a couple of places to get a bite to eat. You can reach the mountain top enclave via cog railway, cable car or funicular. Had this been our only destination we would have ridden the train from Barcelona to the base of the mountain and then ridden the cog railway and the cable car. Taking the bus meant we were taken directly to the little town. On this tour we had a couple of hours for the guided portion of the tour and then some free time to do a little exploring on our own. Seeing the Black Madonna is the big thing here. Included in our tour was entry into the church where we could view the Black Madonna from a distance. People do pay for the opportunity to climb up to the Black Madonna and touch the sculpture. After the church and the Madonna we walked around the mountainside and took more pictures, had a snack of a croissant sandwich and then headed back to the bus.

It was about and hour and forty-five minutes to our second stop: Girona. Here we had lunch before walking over the over to the medieval town of Girona. There are several architectural features here that make the trip special. From churches, the Jewish quarter and the archeological works to the sign prohibiting kissing the dog’s butt, a good time was had by all.

From here we were off to Costa Brava. In truth we actually visited the beach city of Tossa de Mar and the Moralles Tossa de Mar Fort. The beach was exceptional and the climb up the hill and the fort was very scenic. David walked to the top of the mountain while Amy stayed in town and visited some shops and bought some things for the ride home. The town was very quiet as the tourist season has yet to begin. This is in part due to the cold weather which doesn’t make this beach town as popular until a few weeks in the future. Most hotels and restaurants were still closed for the season. We were not sure how much we would want to be here when it gets crazy with beach goers and partygoers. It was almost dark when we pulled away from Tossa de Mar for our hour and a half ride home. The plan was that the tour would end at 8:00 on Avenue Diagonal and that is almost precisely what it did. We all thanked our guide and driver while giving our tips to the guide as we said our goodbyes.

We found a bus that would get us to the street our hotel is on which meant about a four block walk back to the hotel. Barcelona is like most large cities: as long as there are people around you feel pretty safe. And, since the people here stay up late and have late dinners there are a lot of people out and about until very late. On the walk back to the hotel we grabbed another pizza from across the street and ate in our room. We spent some time thinking of our plan for tomorrow before going to bed but didn’t plan to get up very early.