it’s hard to believe our last day is here already.

as i mentioned, we planned a full day of things to see before we go back to the Barcelona Airport.

we’re spending the last night in a hotel adjacent to the airport, as my flight was going to be at 6:30 Thursday morning.

yes, was going to be at 6:30 AM. there is a strike going on at the Frankfurt Airport which of course, was my connection city……until they cancelled my flight. rude.

i spent close to two hours online with United customer service trying to get on a different set of flights home. i need to be home on Thursday and was trying to make it back earlier in the day, hence the original 6:30 AM flight.

Noemi J with United did the best she could and i ended up on an 11 AM flight going through Newark…..she also was able to move me to Economy Plus which was a bonus. a pass to the United Lounge would have been nice too, but hey, at least i get home on time.

once that flight mess was taken care of, we drafted our plan for the day, ending up with a visit to the Girona Cathedral, checking out a town called Pals and ending at Montserrat.

the cathedral was lovely and worth the time. anyone that is a Game of Thrones fan might recognize the stairs leading up to the entry, it’s the stairs in the, “walk of shame” episode. of course there was a lot of CGI involved, but it all started here.

we checked out of our wonderful flat and made our way onto the highway to Pals.

most of our navigation was being managed via Waze (yes, it works in Spain!) with verification by us along the way.

sadly, we went about 16 miles out of our way (the wrong way, my fault) and had to make our way back to the route we were supposed to be on. thankfully we realized when we did, but this delay of course made everything else that much later.

Pals, although small and very quiet on a Wednesday afternoon in the off-season, was still worth the visit.

small town, oozing with charm and crafts, lots of ceramics are from this area.

after a quick bite, we got back on the road and headed to Barcelona with a stop at the Abbey of Montserrat.

this time Waze took us the wrong way, plus we totally missed the parking area (again, my fault) to the monastery and got there about 30 minutes later than we wanted.

the sun was setting, it was really cold and we only had a little over an hour to look at things.

most everything was closed up already, except for the Basilica.

the choir was present, so we were able to hear them sing, which was a lovely treat.

pictures weren’t allowed, but since we rushed in to hear the singing, i missed the sign. here is my one interior photo before the guard gave me the stink eye and the “no-no” finger wag.

it was pretty, even for a brief visit, but i would like to go on a full tour next time.

next time…..on the hour drive to the airport plans were being made for a next time trip to Spain.

we talked about starting with the Montserrat tour, then taking the train to Valencia, Granada and Seville.

not out of the realm of possibility.