The Mountains

The blinds on the windows in Barcelona are a bit like garage doors. They roll up and down – pulled by a rope on the interior side of the house. They can be let down to “close/cover” the window yet still allow air to flow through small holes. Or you can close it further – folding closed even the slits of small holes. At night I close mine almost completely, even the small holes for they also let in the street light that I would rather have shut out. I leave the top ten rows of holes open for air and morning light – and I can tell when it is 7:30AM because the orange glow of the street light disappears and the soft blue of dawn seeps in through the slits of the blinds. Yesterday morning started just this way, my newly awake eyes watching the light change – and knowing then that it was time to get up. I would be going to the forest!
I had recently heard of a nature preserve area behind the mountain range that nestles the city into it’s crescent moon shape – complete with hiking trails, rivers and small villages. My friends, Mara, Eric and Michael, would be joining me for a days’ trek into the wilderness – as would a small Daschund named Sally.
The underground metro from my house to Placa Catalunya takes about 20 minutes and from there you can catch the FGC trains (much like the metro really) to the further reaches of the city. 10-15 minutes on the train brings you to Baixador de Vallvidrera – the gateway to Parc de Collserola. We procured a small walking map from the information center which sits just up the hill from an old farm house – now made into a museum to show the life and work of a Catalonian poet who laid the foundation for contemporary Catalan literature. If only I could remember his name………
We were soon off – on the purple trail heading towards we-don’t-care-where-we’re-just-so-happy-to-be-here. Our first vista was a view of the interior crevasses between several mountain folds. Within this beautiful tree-filled area are a couple of very-Spanish looking villas….straight out of a story-book. For the first time since my arrival here I felt like I was really in the heart of Spain (and I’m not!)…..everything suddenly felt very SPANISH…..it’s breath-taking. Our four hour walk took us up and down hillsides, through oak thickets, over beautiful vistas and through small villages of earth-colored homes. We passed mountain bikers, vivacious elderly walkers, children in bare feet and happy smiles, friendly dogs and butterflies. Eventually we found our way to Tibidabo, a cathedral and (get this) “Theme Park” (because we all want to pray and play!!) that sits on the highest hill of the Collserola Mountains. Although Tibidabo boasts a very odd atmosphere it also provides one of the most incredible views of Barcelona…..all the way to the ocean and beyond…..to the edge of the world! Eric had been carrying a green melon in his bag and chose this perfect moment to announce that fact – and share it’s delicious meat with us.
Tibidabo is easily accessible by road – which means that we were now closer to civilization than we were ready for so we decided to try to find a way down the hill that was off the road. Low and behold a small foot trail revealed itself – it was a maintenance path for the electric lines – and the perfect trail for four adventurous souls who wanted a slow reintroduction back to the city. About an hour later, and some minor trail blazing on our parts, we entered the back end of Horta…..the northern most barrio of Barcelona. The first turn down the small street led us to a park – where there grew a persimmon tree. Eric saw this fruit and quickly turned into a monkey. Within a second he was up in the branches and tossing ripe orange fruit into our hands below. It was like a dream. Michael soon joined Eric in the branches and Mara and I had this moment of awareness: “we just hiked through the most beautiful woods in Spain, trekked through the tundra with total trust, landed in the coolest city and now have two men tossing fresh organic fruit into our hands, straight from the tree.” Needless to say - it was a beautiful day.