Having said our goodbyes to those opulent and bewitching hills of Monserrat in Spain, we were finally on our way to Lourdes in France. The majority of us had never ridden a cable car so it was quite a surprise to us that we had no choice but to take the ride, as it was the only way to get to our coach which was parked at the bottom of those very steep hills. Since all that excitement was over, we were all so ready to relax, let down our hair and just enjoy a peaceful drive, with absolutely no idea of the harbinger around the corner. We had no inclination that we had just left what was, on reflection, more like a mole hill as we headed to the mountains of resplendence.
At first we saw only one snow capped mountain from afar so we were all very eager to snap as many photos of it as possible. As our coach started ascending the first hill, it never dawned on any of us that this was just the beginning of a totally awesome experience and we were about to have a panoramic view of definitely, the most beautiful sights we had ever seen in our entire lives, the incredible Pyrenees Mountains.
I later learnt that these mountains form the natural border between Spain and France and completely engulfs the nation of Andorra. This unforgettable drive was very exciting, not only because of the unbelievable sights but also because of the ebullience of joyful and fearful reactions from the ladies accompanying us. There were shrieks of fear and gasps of “Oooohs and Ahhhhs” at the fetching sceneries that surrounded us. Because the bus was now very high on the mountains and the roads were pretty narrow, turning the corners gave the impression that we were about to go over the precipices.
It felt like we were on that roller coaster ride which most of us would never have dared to try. I am sure, like me, all the other guys wanted to join in the ladies’ verbal outbursts, but we just could not let them to know that we too were scared and completely speechless! (OK, we all wanted to scream like a chorus of little girls and it took the strength of Samson to keep our mouths shut!). We were all going crazy, some jumping from seats to seats to get many shots of those lovely snow capped mountains and all the other exquisite sceneries which were on both sides of our coach.
I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was my favorite part of our entire trip, which started in Portugal and ended in Italy. At one point I actually wondered if it was all a dream and I would awake to find this was just an illusion. It was such an epiphany to think I never knew there was such a comely place on earth but this was very real and I just wanted this cynosure to last forever. Whatever came after did not matter to me because this was worth all the money we spent for our Pilgrimage.
We stopped for lunch and some leisure time at a small outdoor restaurant with the lagniappe of a halcyon lagoon in its backyard. The ambiance around was so wonderful I could not help but wonder what it would be like to live there and wake each morning with such fetching visions to behold. For me, it will be like taking a daily glimpse into a piece of Heaven. Oh well, we could but dream but I firmly believe that nothing, nothing is impossible!
Real Travel Adventures 