Rod and Jessica Take on Spain - Day Six!

Day 6!

We left the hotel bright and early at 6:15 a.m. for our hot air balloon adventure in Catalonia—and it was absolutely amazing! There were three balloons total, and as they started dividing us into groups, we noticed one basket only held six passengers. We volunteered right away, which meant our little friend group got our very own exclusive ride.

Our pilot was incredible. He was so chill! His name is Carles Figueras. He is a European champion of ballooning, and also has a world championship of the world of ballooning. He lives in Kenya now and does safari balloon rides there. He told us about a time he landed next to a pride of lions! He showed us the most stunning photos but said they had to stay inside the basket and make as much noise as possible to keep the lions away—crazy! We knew we were in good hands with him.

Once we were up in the air, we floated above the clouds, which felt completely surreal. We learned that you can’t actually steer a hot air balloon—the only control the pilot has is up, down, and a gentle spin. The rest is up to the wind.

I have never had a huge desire to do hot air ballooning as it seemed "boring," but it was actually incredible. It takes a lot of patience and skill! We flew up into the clouds - Carles said we were about 6800 feet in the air. The views were breathtaking!

The pointy rocks and peaks are the town of Montserrat. 

These mountains are the Pyrenees Mountains.

It was crazy how even the tiniest movements by anyone in the basket made the entire basket shift. Cute Karalee was petrified the entire flight and had a death grip on the basket handles. 

Our flight lasted about an hour and twenty minutes because it took a while to find a safe landing spot. At one point, we were a little too close to some power lines, and we ended up landing in what our pilot called “a perfect triangle of power lines.”  Our landing was incredibly smooth, and the pilots of all three balloons toasted with a glass of champagne (we drank water), dried cheese, trail mix and crackers. It was a wild, unforgettable experience!

We really wanted to see the town of Montserrat, but if we went all the way back to our hotel, it would take too long and cost too much money, so we asked our bus driver to just drop us off at the base of Montserrat. At first, he said no, but after a minute, he changed his mind and made a little detour to let the rest of the group go to the bathroom and let us off the bus. It was so awesome!

We had to take a "zipper" train to get up the mountain to the monastery. It's called the Montserrat Rack Railway. 

Montserrat is a jagged, multi-peaked mountain range in Catalonia, which is about an hour outside of Barcelona. It is mostly known for the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey. It is one of Spain's top pilgrimage destinations. The monastery is home to about 80 monks and has a rich history dating back to 1025. 

This little "parade" was fun to see!

Another famous piece of Montserrat is The Black Madonna ("La Moreneta"). It is housed inside the basilica. It is a revered statue of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. People come from all around the world to see her, and to pray at the statue.

We didn't have tickets to see the Black Madonna either, but Matt, Rod, and Scott snuck in and got a picture from the side for us!

Montserrat is also known for the Boys' Choir. The boys are ages 9-14. Once they hit puberty, they can no longer participate in the choir because their voices change. They live in the monastery and attend a boarding school there. They receive comprehensive musical training, including singing, music theory, and instrumental lessons. The choir performs twice daily at the monastery for pilgrims and visitors. We missed getting into their performance by about 10 minutes. We did hear a recording of them though, and they sang beautifully!

There was a cross on the hill that we could see from the monastery. A couple of people suggested that we should go see it!  It is the Creu de Sant Miquel, or Saint Michael's Cross. It is just a short walk from the monastery, even though it felt like it was all uphill! From the cross, there were breathtaking panoramic views! For the record, Matt is the oldest of all of us, but that dude kicked our butts walking up the hill!

Auto-Owners found out that we didn't go back on the bus we were supposed to and reached out to us to offer a ride back on the bus with the group that paid to go to Monserrat, which was really nice. It saved us a lot of headache and money!

 We stopped at the hotel long enough to brush our teeth and run out again! We were supposed to attend a formal gala and dinner with Auto-Owners tonight, but we impulsively bought tickets to the FC Barcelona game instead! So, we grabbed a taxi, had bar food and headed to the stadium. It was so different than the game in Madrid, but it was so much fun! They won 2-1. They had a 17 year old player that was incredible to watch. Such a talented kid! 

This was the pool used when they Olympics were held in Spain!

The stadium was PACKED!

And SO loud!

After the game, we had to walk forever (and fast!) to find a rental car company that Matt booked a rental with.  That was an adventure! Some very drunk lady grabbed Scott’s shirt and he told her no, so she hit him with her walking stick. It was crazy. We finally found the car rental company, but none of us had our physical passport, so they tried to tell us no to renting the car. Luckily, Rod, Matt and Scott worked their charm and got the lady to rent us a van! Stay tuned for the best day yet!