Montserrat, Spain
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The monastery as seen from Sant Joan
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Montserrat which means the serrated mountain is a multi-peaked mountain range that is located near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is part of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range. Sant Jeroni (1,236 m), Montgrós (1,120 m), and Miranda de les Agulles (903 m) are the main peaks of this range. Monserrat is well-known for the Benedictine Abbey, the Santa Maria de Monserrat that hosts the Virgin of Montserrat.
The mountains capture your attention the moment they become visible to you rising slowly from the horizon as the train approaches the station. They have a different look that makes them stand apart from any other mountain ranges that you have been to before. They are made of conglomerates (a type of sedimentary rocks), they look more like rock formations. In 1987 Montserrat was designated as a National Park.
Traveling to Montserrat from Barcelona
We had purchased our train tickets Trans Montserrat Ticket from which you have to board the train to Monserrat. The ticket offers a There are two ways of reaching the Monastery, you can choose between a cable car route and a funicular train route. The tickets cost us 31.6 Euros per ticket.
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| R5 to Manresa |
Travel Checks: If you choose to take the cable car route then you have to get down at however, if you choose to take the cremallera funicular to the monastery then you will have to get down at the Monistrol Montserrat.
The Espana rail station is located on the green and red metro line and so it is easy to reach. The hotel in which we were putting up was located on the red metro line so it was easy for us to reach Espana. Once you reach Espana, follow the signs to reach the part of the station from where the trains for Montserrat depart.
Travel Checks: We would advise that you allow extra time for travel as sometimes it may be a bit tricky to locate the Montserrat platform, given that the Espana station is quite big!
Once you reach the ticket counter you have to take escalators that reach down to the platforms, from here you have to take the
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| The Cable car |
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The journey took us about an hour. The route was a mix of underground travel and countryside travel. It became scenic once we started approaching Aeri Montserrat and the mountains started appearing against the skyline. We got down at the Aeri Montserrat station, crossed over to the other side of the platform, and just adjacent to it the cable car office was located. There was a small queue there, the wait time ranges for us from 10-15 minutes.
The journey uphill via the vibrant yellow coloured, glass and metal cable car was definitely one of the high points of this day trip. All in all, it took us about 15 minutes to reach the cable car station at the Monastery. Once we reached there, we had to walk uphill to reach the main entrance to the Santa Maria de Monserrat.
Travel Checks: The ticket prices of the two versions of the ticket is the same however they are not interchangeable. While purchasing them please specify the version that you wish to avail.
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Inside the main arena of the Monastery
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The Santa Maria de Monserrat.
As you reach the place, you are surely going to be awe-struck by the sheer serenity that seems to abound from every corner of this place. Calm, quiet, and pure these are the only words that resonated with the natural beauty of this place. One look and this place had won over our hearts and this was even before we had entered the main part of the monument.
The basilica of Montserrat was completely damaged during the Peninsular War and was then rebuilt in 1811. a new facade was built after the Spanish Civil War. There is s room just above the main altar which houses The Virgin of Montserrat. There is a spiral staircase that takes you to this room. On exiting this room you are directed into the Camí de l'Ave Maria, here people make offerings by lighting candles.
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| Camí de l'Ave Maria |
Once we finished exploring the monastery we seated ourselves inside the basilica to experience one of the performances of the Escolania, Montserrat’s Boys’ Choir during the communal prayer. Escolania is one of the oldest boys’ choir, they accompany religious ceremonies and communal prayers in the basilica. All the choir members receive a high standard of musical training, along with human and intellectual education. The choir enjoys international fame and prestige, performing in concerts all over the world, as well as recording.  |
| The Black Madonna |
The Black Madonna is sometimes also referred to by other names, like 'The Virgin of Montserrat' and 'La Moreneta'.Her Spanish name La Moreneta means “the black little one.” The statue is located behind a sheet of glass. There is, however, one of her hands that is holding a sphere symbolizing the universe and this is not behind the glass. You can touch this sphere while you pay a visit to her and offer her your reverence.
The Black Madonna is located at the back of the Montserrat basilica, looking down over the altar. On entering the Basilica you should see a doorway on your right. If you enter through this you should be able to soon reach a queue that will lead you to her. During rush hours the wait time may vary from 20 - 45 minutes to see the Black Madonna. To avoid long queues it is best to visit during the afternoon as it tends to be less crowded during those hours of the day.
Travel Checks: The timings of the Choir may vary. You check them on their official website to match your visit. They usually do not sing on Saturdays.
There is also a museum located in the monastery, we opted out from visiting it as we had a tight schedule to follow. In terms of food and water availability, there is a restaurant nearby where you can eat and drink, the menu is reasonably charged. There is a souvenirs shop in case you want to buy something for memories keep. There is also a visitor's information center located opposite the cremallera funicular station. In case you want to stay over for the night then there are both hotels and Air BnB options that are available. Link here. Find the official website of Montserrat linked here. Although there are usually two different funicular tracks which one can explore when in Montserrat, however, the Santa Cove one was being repaired when we had visited so we were left with only the option of exploring the other one, Funicular de Sant Joan that took us to a height of 1000 metres above sea level.
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| The lower station of Funicular de la Santa Cova |
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The lower station of Sant Joan
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Funicular de Sant Joan
Once we finished our tour of the Monastery we made our way to the station that would take us to the upper part of the Funicular de Sant Joan which offers an impressive panoramic view of the Montserrat mountain, from a height of 1,000 meters above sea level. This was inaugurated in 1918 to communicate the exterior of the monastery with the hermitage of Sant Joan. This funicular which has glass sides took us up on a steep journey all the while giving us a birds-eye view of the monastery from the top. Once we reached the end of the line, the Plain of Tarantulas, in the upper station of the Sant Joan Funicular, we went up via the walking trails to see the hermitage complex of Sant Joan and Sant Onofre. The walk was quite a bliss, however as we had visited during the month of December the cold weather coupled with the altitude of the place did not give us a great sightseeing opportunity, but in days when the sky is clearer, this place promises breath-taking views of the surrounding areas. This place even when it was covered by clouds was so surreal that all the trekking that we did to reach the higher points felt every bit worthy enough!  |
| The Funicular |
Travel Checks: If geography interests you, then we would strongly suggest you take this part of the trip as you will get a vivid idea of not only the topography of this area but also understand its climate, flora and fauna better!
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| Walking trail on the mountains |
We could have easily spent a little more time here, however, we had a flight to catch that very evening so we had to stick to our schedule, however, as we reached the cable car station we found out that it was closed and thus we panicked because we had a flight to catch. We went to the funicular, however even though the lady at the customer desk understood our issues, she could not come to our rescue as the train that had already left by the time reached her. So we waited out patiently near the cable car station, boarded it when the services were resumed and we were pleasantly surprised as we were able to catch our scheduled train back to Espana. So with that, we made our way back down to the Montserrat station, boarded the train back to Espana. Collected our luggage from the cloakroom of our hotel and made our way back to the airport and boarded our flight back to Manchester thus bidding adieu to Barcelona, the beauty of the city shining in our mind's eye and it`s vibe beating in our hearts!
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Montserrat as seen from the cable car station
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Travel Checks: We stayed in Barcelona for only three days and to date we regret not spending a few more days in that city. So we advise that if you have the time you should schedule a five days trip to Barcelona because the city and it`s surrounding areas have a lot to offer to tourists like us, who live to explore!
**Blogger`s speak**
We really felt anxious when the cable car services were disrupted and we felt we might not be able to make it to the airport on time, so from personal experience, we will strongly suggest our fellow travelers that try not planning a trip out of the main city if you have a flight scheduled on that day. The continuous tension can really eat into the pleasure of travel and exploration of a new place.
*Information sources*
The official website of Montserrat
Wikipedia
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