Day 4 - Barcelona, Montserrat + Valencia

On our last morning in Barcelona, Trever had some work to do, so I went to grab breakfast and take some pictures of the Gothic Quarter neighborhood. It's a very old neighborhood and almost seemed run down to me at first glance. However, it was a great place, had several yummy restaurants and plenty of night life. 

Behind many of these garage doors were shops of all varieties. The doors had colorful graffiti and gave the neighborhood a bit of color.

The people in Barcelona use bikes, mopeds, and motorcycles to get around. The streets are VERY narrow, so you need a small car or bike to get around.

Trever really wanted to see Montserrat before we drove south to Valencia, so we drove about 30 mins west to take in this site. A small cable car takes you to the top of the mountain to see the monastery. It was a rainy, overcast day when we visited but the views and landscape were still amazing. The cable car ride made my palms sweat a little, but the ride up was pretty amazing.

We arrived just in time to see the famous boys choir perform inside the chapel. It was pretty amazing and the chapel was packed.

After the choir performance we had a chance to walk around a bit before the rain picked up. We then drove into a nearby town and had an authentic Spanish lunch. It was kind of fun to eat at a place that wasn't full of tourists.

The drive to Valencia took about 3.5 hours and was pretty uneventful. The landscape is very similar to Northern California and we saw many of the same plants and crops that we see in our area.

Our Valencia hotel was right next to the conference center and had great views of the city. Our accommodations were very nice and included white robes and a delicious, all inclusive breakfast. Here is the view from our window. After Trever worked for a bit and I relaxed, we headed into town for dinner. The dinner wasn't great but the gelato we had was amazing!