This was the day we had decided to leave Barcelona and go on a day trip to Montserrat. Since we were planning on being in town for so long, I had come up with Montserrat as an ideal get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and a way to see other parts of Spain. We kicked off the expedition by getting up early and heading to our closest subway station. I was following some directions that I had downloaded from the internet, and there were some pretty vague descriptions. We made a few wrong turns, and it took a while to find the correct train station – they could have posted some better signs. We asked a few people and got pointed the right direction, and once we entered the correct station then we saw signs everywhere touting the railway as the easiest way to get to Montserrat.
Our train ride was a pretty shaky one. This was the first time for us to ride the train on this trip. Usually on our trips to Europe we spend a lot of time on rail, but this trip we were using mostly airplanes. It felt good to be back on the rails, but the position of our train car and the terrain made the carriage shake and rock quite a bit, which upset Kuniko’s stomach a little. We continued to travel northwest out of Barcelona for about 40 minutes until we reached the foot of Montserrat. We got off at a tiny station with a few other tourists and sat down to rest a bit and gather our courage.
And we did need courage, because the next stage of the trip was a gondola ride from the base all the way up to the mountaintops. Montserrat is the name of the mountain range, and perched on top is a monastery, some lodging, a couple of restaurants and a church. There is also a wide network of hiking trails. Originally I had considered that it might be good to hike around and burn calories from our trip, but as it turned out we had been doing quite a lot of walking on our own already.
We were early enough that there was no line to ride the gondola, and the ride was great. It was about a 1000 meter climb up to the top, so it is a pretty steep angle. The gondola operator looked bored but everyone else was oohing and aahing about the view as we went. Luckily the weather was beautiful – it would have been a different story on the gondola if the wind was blowing hard.
The gondola let us off just a short walk below the terminal of a rack train line that also runs to the mountain. We chose the gondola because of the views and the speed, but a lot of other people had chosen the train for comfort. Once we passed the train station we decided to explore the immediate area. The views from the top back down on the valley below were phenomenal, and I couldn’t stop taking pictures. The grounds were more modern than I expected. Everything was clean and well cared for – I guess the monks have a lot of time on their hands up there. We managed to sneak into the church on a self-guided tour right before they closed the building for morning prayer. This saved us a lot of time later on, although we didn’t realize it at the time. In contrast to the other mosques, churches and cathedrals that we’d seen this trip the church on Montserrat was dark, with a gothic style that included lots of tile and metal work. We waited in a short line to see some religious artifacts that didn’t really mean that much to us (the Black Madonna, for example), and finished with a short circuit around the church proper. It was beautiful, especially considering how it was built so high in the mountains in the 1700s.
From the church and monastery we could choose two different funiculars to explore further. One went down some ways to another valley, where there was apparently a weeping statue and some hand rails designed by Gaudi. The other option was to go onward to the summit of the mountain and see some of the hiking trails and some abandoned churches. We opted for continuing upward, and took the funicular of St. Joan to the top. It was a very steep ride upwards – I’m glad I was hiking it – and after reaching the top we walked around the summit taking in the views. For about 20 minutes we followed one hiking trail, trying to stay in shade when possible as the temperature was warming up quickly. Kuniko hates to be out in the sun for too long, and I didn’t blame her in that heat, so we decided to walk only as far as the nearest church.
We found the tiny church pretty quickly, and it was right on the edge of the hill with a spectacular view overlooking villages and green fields below. Nice spot! We found some rocks under the trees nearby and sat for a while in the shade eating our picnic lunch (leftovers from our hotel room party the previous night). Walking back Kuniko “prayed” to St. Joan that the sun would stay off us, and in a flash some clouds rolled in and blocked the sun. I’ve never seen prayers answered quite so fast.
We caught the funicular back down to the main Montserrat area, and then stopped at a strange café/cafeteria to have a glass of white wine and some snacks. It was a strange place to drink, but the monks surely appreciated the extra money they could bring in from visitors.
On our way back to the gondola we passed some local farmers selling produce and goods, and I bought a pear on impulse to snack on. It was fresh but a little firm. I like my pears to leave juice on your chin. We caught the next gondola back down the mountain, but we missed the once-an-hour train by less than a minute. That meant that we had to sit at the station for about an hour reading and drinking juice. Finally, the train arrived, and we had an uneventful train ride back into town. One interesting thing about the train car we used on the way back was that they had outlets built into the seats so everyone could recharge their wireless devices. I wish I had thought to bring my charging cable.
Back in town we decided to go out for one last round of tapas and cava. We found a nice place in a different neighborhood with excellent food and staff that kept our glasses full. After a couple rounds we decided to try another tapas place, and then we went out for pinxtos, and ended up bar hopping through the dinner hour. We really enjoyed the variation in all the tapas, the small sizes making it easy to keep on eating, and how cava purchased by the glass was so damn affordable. In Japan they charge more than 1000 yen a glass for sparkling wine, and the glass is only a little over half full. They fill to the brim in Spain.
We finally ended up at the hotel, arranged for a very early checkout and a taxi the next day, and then we set our alarms for 2:45 am the following morning (just a few hours away) and went to sleep. It was an early departure from Barcelona airport the next day.
