La Mola is a rocky mountain near the town of Matadepera. On the top, there is a monastery that has been converted to a restaurant serving traditional Catalan fare. They start serving dinner at 9pm, so a group of us set out to begin hiking up at 7:30 or so. There are no roads to the top; the restaurant receives its supplies via donkeys, and the waitstaff sleeps at the restaurant.
We tried to do this trip in the Fall, but got rained out, so we only had to laugh when we left sunny Barcelona last Saturday and caught sight of a dark storm cloud sitting over La Mola. But we set out anyway, and it stopped raining soon enough. Our Catalan friend, Cachi, kept promising us that this was "the ultimate Catalan experience," so of course a little rain wouldn't stop us!
We raced the sunset. It took us about an hour to hike up. I was the slowest of course, my camera and my trigger finger...
The Catalans:
The Canadians:
Our first glimpse of the monastery-turned restaurant:
Montserrat in the distance. I think I can see my friends climbing!
Breaking out the cava at the top. As Cachi said, this was "the ultimate Catalan experience!"
Dinner-time!
This was the largest botifarra (typical Catalan sausage) I've ever had! It doesn't even fit on the plate! Needless to say, it was a very uncomfortable hike down the mountain!
We headed down around midnight, with headlamps and full bellies!
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