Camino 2.0 (So Excited, We Can Hardly Wait!)

[SuGardner]

We did it!!! We just purchased our tickets today!!! We walked the Camino Frances in June/July 2013 and we haven't been the same since, so we are going again.

We were not able to go all the way to Muxia/Finisterre last time so we are excited that we will be able to this time. Also, we are going to make our way by train/bus to SJPP from Barcelona (last time we started in Madrid).

We would love any suggestions about Pilgrim-cheap (but clean and well-located) places to stay in Barcelona and whether anyone has been to Montserrat and could give us suggestions as to whether we should plan time to go there.

We are so grateful for this opportunity!!! From our vantage point it's an opportunity to strip away all the 'noise' of work-a-day life and experience, in living color with other Pilgrims and locals, the fellowship, laughter, struggle, joy, hospitality, goodness, beauty and love of the Trinity and what we were made for!

Joyfully,
Susan

 

[Albertinho]

From Barcelona to Monserrat is about 50 kms . you could go by train.
In Monistrol de Montserrat is a trainstation. Nearby is a funicular which takes you up . I think you have to change trains in Martorell but am not sure .I worked for some years in the area but travelled by car allways.a visit to Montserrat costs you a day.
I do not know about pilgrim hotels in Barcelona.. I lived there during the weekdays, in the weekends I was back home in the Netherlands and due to my work I was better off to stay outside the city.I have never seen any pilgrims around . I worked in all 4 Catalán provinces. But if you google "albergues Barcelona" you get some hits so maybe you can make a choice out of them.
Buen camino.

 

[SuGardner]

Thank you for those suggestions Albertinho!

 

[naplesdon]

I have friends who have been using AirBNB with great success lately.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I believe this is the place I stayed last fall: http://www.santjordihostels.com/hostel-lluria/

Very good location, with equal distance or just about to the Gothic & Sagrada Familia, and only a couple of blocs from Plaza Catalunya, one of the stops the bus from the airport makes. Also discovered, by accident, on my stroll down to the Cathedral to get my credencial (the office was closed, despite the fact that I was there at the announced office hours) a most beautiful building , the Music Palace: http://www.palaumusica.cat/ca/. Truly a gem.

Now, would I recommend an albergue in Barcelona (or Bilbao for that matter): yeah, but ....

Inexpensive, but remember that these are cities that attract a lot of youth and are well known for their nightlife. Many of the people staying in this albergue were there to enjoy such activities, and as such would walk in in the wee hours of the morning. They were not rowdy, but still, it's not a 'Camino Albergue" feel. A pension may be better suited to get over jetlag or just get well rested before the Camino.

This albergue had individual lockers in the rooms, that closed with a magnetic key. I really liked that. Plus, you also needed a key to get into the room you were assigned (my probably accomodated 12 oo 14 people), so good for safety.

They also had a staff member on site 24-7, and after 2 nights in Bilbao in an albergue that didn't have one and I wondered if I would wake up alive the next day (a story for another time), I now appreciate this from the Sant Jordi. Oh, and it has AC in the rooms, and they gave you bedding and towels if memory serves me right.

 

[Albertinho]

I have friends who have been using AirBNB with great success lately.

As we do ! Had a nice AIRBNB room a.o. in Santiago de Compostela last year.
This year we will do this again. Good idea Biaritzdon
In Barcelona you'll definitively find something.

 

[Albertinho]

One remark..in the touristical area f.ex. theRambla, beware for notorious pickpockets !

Buen camino

 

[Ian Afloat]

Definitely do Montserrat. When we went there you still had to use the cable car; I suspect many an agnostic reexamined their beliefs as they approached the top as a result!!

 

[SuGardner]

Great thoughts everyone! Thanks Biarritzdon, Anemone del Camino, Ian Afloat and Albertinho. This gives me some ideas to dig into further!

 

[Albertinho]

One remark..in the touristical area f.ex. theRambla, beware for notorious pickpockets !

Buen camino

Great thoughts everyone! Thanks Biarritzdon, Anemone del Camino, Ian Afloat and Albertinho. This gives me some ideas to dig into further!

buen camino !

 

[bernhugo]

If you want to go to Montserrat by train, the trains leave Plaza de Espana station hourly on line R5.
They go directly without change to either Aeri Montserrat to get the cable car up to the monastery, or the next station Ministrol Montserrrat where you go up by funicular railway.
Plaza Espana station is a large underground station and quite a few lines go from there. You may have to ask directions to line R5.
Montserrat is well worth a visit .

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Great thoughts everyone! Thanks Biarritzdon, Anemone del Camino, Ian Afloat and Albertinho. This gives me some ideas to dig into further!

Su, yesterday I mentioned a story of the albergue in Bilbao. I think it may be useful for some who will do the Camino, if not you specifically. I found, online, an albergue just across the river of the Guggenheim museum. You could not ask for a better location. From the pictures on the web it looked modern and clean. And it was. But the first shock was realising the bunks were 3 bed high. So be it. It had lockers you could fit your backpack in and close with a padlock you would either bring with you or buy from them for 2 Euros.

The problem was that there was no member of staff at night, and that people would let themselves in with a entry code. One of the girls in the albergue clearly sufferered from a drug problem and came back very high the first night. As the albergue turned down the lights in the rooms centrally, she used her lighter to find her way around, and her things in the back. Again, she was very very high. She could have set the place on fire. This was the only the 2nd place on the Camino I have not felt safe, the other being due to a silly detour the arrows make you take, but that also is another story ;0)

All this to say that before booking, I would suggest finding out if the albergue is attended by a member of staff at night and what the security mesures are.