​On Saturday 11 June we took a guided bus tour to Girona and the Dali Museum.
The trip took 11hours total and was a great day.
We went on a walking tour through Girona – a city founded by Romans which has some amazing old buildings, ancient streets and grand views plus a Gothic cathedral of Santa Maria and a Jewish History Museum that details how the Jewish people lived in the region.
Sections of the city have also been featured in ‘Game of Thrones’ – check out the photos and you will see why.
​We were told by our bus tour guide that we had to try a local pastry called a chuchu (shoeshoe) so of course we obliged.
While sitting down for lunch we were treated to a display of locals in medieval costumes playing drums and re-enacting something from days gone by (it was all in Spanish so we didn’t quite catch it).
Then on to the Dali Theatre Museum. This man was a theatrical genius of superior arrogance. Everything was about him, him, him because he was better than everyone. I studied his work in high school but had no idea he was so…. nuts! Brilliant and nuts!
Anyway the museum is a former theatre where he decided to build ‘his’ own museum in his home town. The location is near the church in which he was baptised and where he held his first exhibition. The museum itself is a massive collection of his work and the work of some of the artists he admired. What was funny was that his work was displayed in all its grandeur while the work of the admired artists was crammed in to the small rounded sections of the theatre. They were great, however we couldn’t really fully appreciate them in their grandeur like the way Dali’s work was displayed.
Dali’s work included paintings, drawings, sculptures and jewellery from every period of his career…impressionism, futurism, cubism and surrealism.
I remember studying his surrealist work and creating my own see-the-face-in-the-rocks masterpiece. Let me tell you, after visiting the museum we were seeing shapes and faces in everything for days afterward.
The trip back to Barcelona was a chance to snooze and play Candy Crush (I blame you Holly!!)
But that’s not all…
On Sunday 12 June we hopped on a train, then a cable car to check out Montserrat and specifically Montserrat Basilica which as well as being a really old and magnificent church that houses a carved image of the ‘mother of God’ it is really famous for its boys’ choir. Thus we made the trek to hear them sing.
Little did we know that a full church service would be taking place – it was Sunday after all. So, as we ‘touristed’ our way in to the basilica we were greeted by hundreds of church-goers singing along with the boys’ choir. Knowing our place, we quietly stood by a wall and took in the scene. Other tourists pushed and whispered and took photographs before shuffling out again. The ambience and waves of emotion during the mass was very special. At one point Steve and I both had tears running down our faces.
It was all in Spanish so we could only understand a few words here and there but the experience was one we will remember.
At communion I didn’t think the priests would be able to offer everyone ‘the body of Christ’ but like the loaves and the fishes everyone moved slowly forward and received communion.
After mass, some people left although most stayed to listen to the boys’ choir sing their solo set. They sing beautifully and sounded like angels in the old basilica.
As the boys’ sang people moved one-by-one past the carved image of the ‘mother of God’ that was situated centrally above the sanctuary. They climbed a small step ladder to kiss her feet before moving on. When we got outside we saw the massive line of people – hundreds of them – waiting to pass the figure.
We took some photos, marvelled at the amazing views, had lunch at the very well organised cafeteria (along with the monks) and then decided to head back to Barcelona.
What a weekend!!!