Ermita de St. Joan, Montserrat

View of the Monastery

I thought we were at the top of this serrated mountain while at the monastery
until......JS said we are gonna head up some more

O.O
then my legs turned jelly again for we are goin higher
GAH!!!!!

later I found out the highest summit of this serrated mountain is Saint Jeroni
standing tall at 4,055 feet
I gave him this look O.O over and over O.O

JS: "What??? Mount Kinabalu is 13,455 feet high u know!!! this is nothing!!!!"
:(((((((((((((((((((((((

Furnicular de Sant Joan

the last bit we have to take a funicular to go up
coz there's no way u can go up on your own
it was so steep I almost fell off my chair about 65 degrees
also the steepest funicular in the whole of Spain

built in 1918, it has been modernised these days with glass roofs and windows for a panoramic view as u ascend up
it was a short journey of 6 minutes and I couldn't bear to look down at all

Once at the top, not the summit coz there's still another 1.5 hours hike
we were looking around n choosing the simplest route
there's 3 trails/hike which u can do

however we wanted to explore the caves and dwellings of the Hermitage of Montserrat
this whole rock mountain is a National Park

 

JS: "Monkey u coming??? hurry up!!!!?"
Monkey grumbled grumbled grumbled

ok that was a fake :P
JS was just posing for a pic but he had to climbed up this rock a few feet high
he was so agile like a errmmm monkey?

so the actual hike was like this!!!!!
I was so EPPY EPPY!!!!!
big wide trail for me to stomp, hop, skip about

lalalalalalalalalalalalalala~~~~~~~~~

beautiful rocks for me to cam-whore with

and we had a good Geography Lesson on the way up as we climbed
both Monkey & JS were competing on who has got the best knowledge on Rocks/Stones
Volcanic vs Conglomerate stones
types of sealives and shells stucked onto those rocks aka fossils

only thing we can't decipher was which dinosaur age were these stones from

see I told ya both of us are very competitive
but JS was very sweet and walked slowly to accommodate my tiny feet *I walked too slow*
heeeeeeeeeeeeee thank u for bringing me here yea....

there was another old trail with steps circulating these huge rocks
with no handles at all
we didn't wanna risk our lives and use that route...it was a shortcut
in the end we took our own sweet time to hike and enjoy the beautiful view :)))))

JS screamed he's at the TOP
-_-"
nope we were definitely not at the top yet
but from here u can see the whole of Catalonia

Monkey: "Hey come back!!! dun stand too near the edge!!!!"
and my legs got jelly-fied again
*again, is there such word :P*

I tip toe-ed and walk closer to enjoy wat JS saw fr his perspective
WUUUUUAAAHHHH nice but I'm too scared!!!
how did we climb up here?
GAH!!!
and my body was frozen unable to move...
JS had to pull me down to continue our hike

Monkey: "Where are we heading to now?"
JS pointed out to those huge rounded stones
"see those lil caves in that rock? we gonna climb up there."

pffftttt huffed puffed!!!!!
>.<

ok...ok...almost....and I saw this lil chapel
but then it was still quite some long way to go

we didn't wanna miss every bit of it and snapped so many pics of this place
hope u guys will enjoy it as much as we did :))))))))))))))))

WOW I think I can see my hotel from here KEKEKEKKEKEKEKE
JS frowned.........."u silly, we are facing inland....Barcelona is on the other side!!!!"
-_-
hey dun be so serious lar....kekekekkekeekke

taking a short break while enjoying a panoramic bird eye view
at this juncture JS took our his half-eaten foot long sandwich and began chomping
me = :"(( I didn't pack lunch :"((
well the view is enuff to feed me hahahahahahaha

Our hike continued....and we were inside those hermitage caves
homes to the hermit monks almost a thousand years ago

they've must been so tiny!!!

and how did they climbed all the way up here, built a chapel, home and reside here a thousand years ago???
there wasn't any funicular nor cable car!!!!

Later we descended that huge piece of rock and tried the 2nd trail to another huge rock
Can u see those tiny holes that cluster of rocks there???
well WE WERE THERE!!!!

I seriously KENOT believe it that we've climbed there!!!!!!!!
OH MY GAWD!!!!
it has to be the achievement of 2011!!!! kekekekekkekekeke

Berr was here too!!!!
:)))))))))))))))))))

Looking at those rounded rocks...I am still pondering how did we got up there???
it was quite scary though
on our journey up, we saw many Rock Climbers too, for this place is famous for this type of sports

Berr, Monkey, Rabbit and JS were here!!!!

The view from the other Rock Mountain

the lil house down there is the station for the funicular
I think it's totally worth all the trouble of getting up here
wat a spectacular view and experience
*jelly-fied experience kekekekeke*

for every beginning there is an end....
after 3 hours up here, basting in UV rays we think it's time to go down
hehehehehehehehe

we still need to get down to the Monastery to see the Black Virgin of Montserrat
I am so glad we did this :)))))))))))
What an adventure :)))))

so to be continued tomorrow.........
yes there's more to show....heheheheheheh
enjoy all the pics!!!!