The Monastery of Pedralbes and Parc Güell

On Thursday 26th of January we went on a trip to a monastery. The trip was part of the 2nd ESO group's Geography module, and the school kindly invited us along. The day began with a 45 minute coach journey to the monastery, during which we played cards with some pupils and discussed the previous night's 'El Clasico' (Barcelona drew 2-2 with Madrid, but went through to the semi finals of the Copa Del Rey after winning the first leg). We arrived at the Gothic 'Monastery of Pedralbes' at around 9am.

The monastery was founded by King James II of Aragon for his wife Elisenda de Montcada in 1326, and her tomb is preserved there. Today it still houses a small group of nuns, and also functions as a musuem.

The place was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. The students had a guide, but as neither me nor Brendon can understand much Catalan, we were free to explore the site ourselves. It was quite spectacular to stand by the fountain in the middle of the cloister, surrounding by orange trees!

After we had explored the monastery, the coach took us to Parc Güell. It was our first time visiting the popular tourist attraction, but we both agreed that it was one of our favourite parts of Barcelona. We ate a picnic and took some pictures with the famous dragon sculpture. My favourite part was the prehistoric-looking columns! After all that excitement, I slept all the way home on the coach. It was a great day, and we want to thank the school for taking us and the students for making it such an enjoyable and funny experience.

Cheers!
James and Brendon