 |
| Cloister at Sant Jeroni de la Murta Monastery |
For the past few weeks, I’ve been guest-blogging about free things to do in Barcelona over at the Barcelona Blog for Barcelona Metropolitan Magazine.
First up was the lush flower garden at Cervantes Park.
My second entry is about Serralada de Marina Park, a massive 4,000 hectare park just outside Barcelona. Home to the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Murta and the ancient Iberian settlement of Puig Castellar, the park is an ideal picnic and hiking destination and a well-kept secret among locals.
An Excerpt:
Trailing Columbus
After creeping carefully past couples pedaling up the hill on bicycles and families climbing slowly to the top, dogs on leashes and little ones in arms, we abandon the car at the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Murta. My husband Jesus nudges my shoulder and points at the monastery. “Here, Christopher Columbus was received by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, after his first voyage to the Americas.”
Spaniards, Italians and Catalans are always assuming that as an American, I will share their special affection for Columbus. Not so. I can recite the “Columbus sailed the ocean blue” rhyme by rote, but that’s as far as it goes. Because if you want my opinion, and most of the Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards and Catalans that are so eager to claim ownership of the famous explorer don’t, Columbus was an arrogant schmuck.
Aside: Schmuck is a Yiddish term used in American English, to mean an obnoxious or contemptible person who is stupid or foolish.
Columbus was lucky. He was looking for Japan in all the wrong places, and stumbled upon somewhere ‘new’. And, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Columbus never….
Read more about Serralada de Marina Parc at the Barcelona Metropolitan
Copyright 2010-2012 Chris Ciolli. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce texts or images without written consent. First published in the Tipton Times unless otherwise noted.
Thanks for reading. Head to Midwesternerabroad.com for more good stuff!
