Day 8 - Barcelona / Montserrat, Spain - June 18th

The day started off great. We had a bus/walking tour of the city. After that we drove an hour to Montserrat, which is a small community and monastery on the mountain top. It was a beautiful drive. Dave would love the narrow twisty roads leading to the top from his bike. The views of the city below were awesome. We walked through the village for about 2 hours then came back to Barcelona. The rest of the day was free so Megan and I were excited to go back to the beach we found last night. It was nice and sunny and perfect for swimming. So we packed our swimsuit and towel. I left our passports, credit cards, and all money except around 30 Euros, because I didn’t want to have that sitting in our bag on the beach while we were swimming. We bought 4 metro tickets, 2 to get there and 2 to get back, and got on the metro toward the beach. We had to make 2 line transfers to get to our stop. At one of the transfers, there was security checking tickets. We had thrown away our old tickets that we used to get on the metro so we wouldn’t mix them up with our return tickets. We handed them our other 2 tickets, but because they were not validated, the security guard said we had to pay a 100 Euro fine each. 100 Euro fine is for those people who jump the turnstiles and got on the metro with a ticket. I saw the signs on the metro, I knew there was a fine for that, but we HAD used tickets to get on the metro. I should have realized we need to keep our tickets as proof. I explained what had happened, and that we were tourists and didn’t realize we needed to keep our tickets with us, but we HAD purchased tickets. He didn’t care. He told me it was my job to know the rules if I’m going to use the metro. He asked for my passport so I gave him the copy of mine. He then printed out a ticket for me. Then he told me that I could pay 50 Euro now, or pay 100 Euro at the police the next day, and asked what I would prefer. I told him I would prefer the 50, but I didn’t have it on me, that it was at our hotel. Then he asked for Megan’s passport. She had nothing on her, so he began to threaten me that she would be taken to the police station, and I had to go to the hotel, leaving Megan behind, and come back with 100 Euro to pay for our fines. He gave me 30 minutes to go to the hotel and get the money and come back. I told him 1) I was NOT leaving without Megan, and 2) that it took us 40 minutes to get here from our hotel, and there was NO way I could get to the hotel and back in 30 minutes. He asked what hotel I was staying at and told me yes, it was possible, and then ignored me. So I just stood there, not knowing what to do. I was not going to leave without Megan, there is no cell service underground so I couldn’t call anyone to come rescue us, and I didn’t have the money to pay him to let us go. After about 5 minutes, he turns back to me and asked me what I was still doing there. I told him, I don’t know what to do! I’m not leaving without Megan, and I don’t have the money! So he angrily asks for Megan’s birth date and full name and prints out a ticket for her, then he tells us we have to be back in 30 minutes with the money. So we take off running back to our hotel. By the time we get to the hotel, we only have 5 minutes until we are to meet him, which was impossible. So I have reception call our tour director and she comes to the lobby and we explain what happened. She talks with the hotel reception, and all 3 of them tell me not to go back. That he is corrupt and just wanted to pocket some easy cash and then discard the tickets. So we didn’t go back. And if Spain really wants me to pay the 200 Euros, they can bill me and I’ll pay it. I was also upset that because of this whole fiasco with the security, we lost our chance to swim at the beach in Barcelona. We were leaving for France the next day.