I’ve never been to Spain earlier. And of course I dreamt to visit it. It happened this spring that me and my wife bought inexpensive trip to Catalonia, to the famous sea shore of Costa Brava. Before leaving, we knew that there won’t be hot in the beginning of May, but we have hoped we would be lucky. Plus, we expected that “not hot” in Costa Brava would be exactly what we, citizens of Saint-Petersburg, need. 🙂 It didn’t work out that way and we have seen that relatively not high price for the trip was justified. In one of the ten days there were just +12 in Celsius with frequent cold rain. Even in general was just warm, definitely not hot. Nevertheless, my wife swam twice in the sea: pure, salty, and about +16 degrees. I for one, as a veteran cold and hedonist, decided to stay away. 🙂
In spite of this, we got a whole bunch of emotions bright and memorable – and this was the main thing for what we traveled there. Well, photographs too, of course.
One of the days we allocated for a trip to Barcelona, the most beautiful city in the World according to the opinion of one famous Russian sports journalist. As for me, I have visited just a few of World’s greatest cities so far and I haven’t enough to compare with. Still, I can say that Barcelona undoubtedly beautiful, distinctive and very interesting city. I’m not really good in architecture as an art, but, in general, I got the impression that if Saint-Petersburg, for instance, is the city by Carlo Rossi, so Barcelona is the one by Antonio Gaudi (it’s clear that this is a strong simplification, but it sounds great, isn’t it? 🙂 ).
But still, nature for me is more beautiful than any cities, and her creations are nicer to the eye than the most beautiful architectural ensembles. That’s why our trip to Montserrat mountain impressed me a lot more than Catalonia capital. What only cost one rise on foot from about 1 km height
to the top (1236 meters above sea level)
and walking the same way descent to the monastery (725 meters)
by narrow and winding paths, then making their way through the mountain forest,
then going to the edge of steep slopes with breathtaking views! Well, I guess I can even don’t talk what delight caused me the texture of the rocks of this amazing mountain. 🙂
As Vladimir Vysotsky sang:
“To the vanity of cities and car flows
We come back because there’s just nowhere to go!
And we go down from conquered peaks,
Leaving in mountains, leaving in mountains our hearts”.
I can’t quite agree with the thought that human in principal capable to conquer a mountain. This became obvious for me while we descended on the cremalera down, “to the vanity of cities”. Just look at her! Mountains do conquer us, not we – their!
But yes, we left pieces of our hearts on this mountain. And we were back to the small, cozy and wonderful town of Tossa de Mar. The town we loved as well for its beauty, ancient fortress, hospitality and silence.
So, I repeat myself: vacation is always good, even if the weather doesn’t please you! 🙂
P.S.: Follow me on Instagram: @Denis_Wordman