Posted on June 22, 2008 - by Jason
Montserrat
Sarah and I traveled to Montserrat today, which is just a short train ride outside of Barcelona. It is the site of a Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat, which hosts the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary and which is identified by some with the location of the Holy Grail in Arthurian myth. (Full Wikipedia Article)
After a small amount of coaxing, Sarah agreed to ride the cable car up from the train stop so that we could tour the abbey. While there, we found the most interesting thing was probably the scenery - simply gorgeous views.
To improve our viewing options, we decided to hike the trails around the abbey and up the mountain for more than three hours, eventually ascending over 400 meters up from the monastery (which is already very high up!). Along the way we saw geckos, 1 scorpion (dead), and at least a dozen rock climbers hanging from the ledges and rock faces.
I’ve posted some pictures from Montserrat in my photostream.
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June 24, 2008
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Awesome shots. Okay now what kind of salamanders were they?
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June 25, 2008
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First, I saw that I spelled salamanders wrong, but forgot to fix it! Thanks to your comment, the millions(!) that would have saw my mistake have now been spared.
Turns out I probably saw geckos, not salamanders. The area we were in was regularly wet (streams and the like via pretty consistent rain, but I think the area was probably to dry for amphibians), but I think what we saw was actually the Hemidactylus turcicus. They were quite fast, and didn’t like to slow down when I wanted to take photos. I really wanted a photo - for you in particular - but just couldn’t manage.