Monday, August 11
The team started the morning with breakfast together at the hotel. We are beginning to get accustomed to the delicious morning spread of pastries, breakfast meats, fresh coffee, yogurt, cereal, and Spanish omelets. It's nice to wake up to such a set of choices...After breakfast, we boarded the bus to head to Monserrat.
Monserrat is the home of a monastery built high in the mountains outside of Barcelona. It is also home to the famous Black Madonna.
When the bus got off the highway, Han warned us that the roads up to our high altitude destination were very narrow and winding. As he pointed to the point at the top of the mountain, and I think many of us were wondering how the bus would make its way that far. The driver was impressive, however, and he led us carefully up the tiny hairpin turns as we took in the scenic, albeit somewhat frightening views over the surrounding landscape.
When we reached the end of the road for the bus, we took some time for team pictures, and then headed still further up the mountain to the park. This ascent required a small cable car that slowly carried us to the peaks of the mountains. At the top, we were greeted with a myriad of paths and trails with fantastic overlooks and small chapels. We split into groups and headed around the park, taking in the scenery and finding some great photo spots.
Several of us found paths, stairs, and climbs that took us still higher. As we climbed, the elevation and heat became more noticeable. It was more difficult, so far up and away, to feel like we got full breaths. Perhaps I should only speak on my own behalf as a slightly older and likely out of shape coach, but...The climbs were well worth it, though. The sights were incredible, and the views were actually breathtaking (beyond the lack of air from the climbing).
While there were miles of paths to explore, we wanted to make sure we had time to peruse the shops and see the Black Madonna for which Monserrat is so well-known. After a little over an hour of exploration at the top, we gathered and boarded the slowly descending cable car, which took us back down to the area immediately surrounding the basilica. We had just enough time to see the madonna, walk through some shops, and grab a snack before heading back to the bus.
The bus swept us off our tired feet (again, maybe only speaking for the old coaches) and safely back down the mountain. We returned to the hotel for an afternoon of free time before training. Many of the players took this time to walk around the city, do some shopping, grab some food, or just relax.
We met back up later to head to training, as we had one more session scheduled with the FC Barcino coaches. The team appreciated the cooler night weather, and we had another good training session with the Spanish coaches. The players brought a lot of energy to the session, and even spontaneously broke out into post-practice push-up ladders outside the facility while we waited for our bus.
After getting cleaned up, we ended our night with another fabulous Spanish dinner at El Glop. We all had some fantastic seafood paella and other Spanish cuisine.
After such a great meal, we retired to get some sleep for the next day's match and time at Sitges.
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