Spain is not short on amazing places to see. From the main cities to coastal towns, to secondary but highly beautiful or historical towns. Spain has it all and I have been fortunate to have seen a lot of it. I decided to visit Montserrat as we would be passing near it on our way to Barcelona. I am glad I did. Montserrat served as a reminder to me of how much I have left to discover of the amazing “madre patria” (mother country)!
Why visit Montserrat?
Montserrat is an easy day trip from Barcelona, is host to a Benedictine abbey (Santa Maria de Montserrat) and monastery that sit grandly at around 4,000 ft of altitude. Its name literally translates to “serrated mountain”. That is one appropriate name as it is a jagged-topped mountain that rises up from the Catalonian landscape. Montserrat is an amazing site for several reasons.
For the Catholic faithful, it is home to the Virgin of Montserrat (the “black virgin”). Many visit Montserrat as a pilgrimage of faith.
For the hiker or active traveler, Montserrat offers a neat place to trek up to enjoy the mountaintop views. I understand that it is not a hard hike.
And for the traveler, it is a great destination offering splendid views, great architecture, cultural perspective, and a thrill just to get up to it!
View upon exiting the railway station
Some History on Montserrat (but not too much!)
The monastery atop Montserrat has been around since the 10th century and it is still a functioning monastery. It is absolutely mind boggling to me to think it has been there over a thousand years. I even read that it been the home to an important religious site since Roman times before Christ. St. Ignatius of Loyola came to this site to pray and contemplate. Eventually, St. Ignatius went on to found the Jesuit order in the Catholic Church (Pope Francis belongs to this order).
More recently, the monastery in Montserrat suffered closure during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. And the killing of 22 of its monks. Communist combatants in the Spanish Civil War killed many religious all around the country. These same Communists destroyed many churches – and religious birth, marriage and death records stored within them. A real shame that humans could be so ignorant and disrespectful.
In any case, the basilica itself is not that old. Yet has suffered great damage during wars and fires over the centuries. The basilica has a museum with art work that includes the likes of Picasso, Dali, and El Greco. A statue of the black Virgin that sits above and behind the main altar of the basilica. The statue has its origins, supposedly, in the Holy Land. It dates from the early days of Christianity though others believe it was carved many centuries later (Middle Ages). All this is why I recommend anyone going to Barcelona to visit Montserrat!
Getting to Montserrat
The good news for anyone desiring to visit Montserrat is that it is easily accessible whether you have a car or you take a train from Barcelona.
If you are driving, head in the direction of Monistrol de Montserrat. We came from Andorra via Lleida and it was easy to find though, at the very end, exactly how to get to our destination took a little more guesswork… If you are coming from Barcelona, well, it is just about 45 minutes away and not terribly difficult to get to.
Once there, the options for parking are either parking up at the monastery (parking is limited and it is not free so maybe not as ideal as it may sound), or parking by one of the two railway stations that I will talk about a little further down. Where you park is really based on how you want to go up. As I mentioned, you can drive up. You can also hike up if you are so inclined. I did not hike up (though I wished I could have) but I hear the round trip up and down the trail is about 20 km and the trail is relatively easy and fairly ‘stepped.’
At Monistrol-Vila railway station’s parking area – notice the mural showing the ascent and the mountaintop!
Now if you don’t want to drive up or walk up, then you have two options: the cable car (or “Aeri”) or the inclined railway (“Cremallera“). They both are easy ways to go up but you need to decide before you get there as each is taken from a different point around the area. Both the cable car and railway have frequent departures which vary depending on the season you visit – schedules are posted online and at the stations.
If you take the train in to Montserrat from Barcelona, you will arrive at the lower station, Monistrol de Montserratu, where you can take the railway up. If you drive, you can opt to drive a little further up and park at the railway station Monistrol-Vila; there was open (uncovered) parking for buses and a parking deck for the rest of us. We opted to start at Monistrol-Vila as there was ample free parking, and the station was clean and new. If you do decide to use this station like we did, remember that on the way down, you need get off at the first stop of the railway!
At the railway station
We opted for the railway as we had heard that it allows more time to absorb the scenic views (the cable car only takes 5 mins whereas the railway takes between 15-20 mins) and it is pretty amazing to climb the slopes of the mountain via the train. The train is very comfortable and the views were indeed great; the perfect choice for us. The cost was around 10 euros for the round trip, which is really not too bad.
Note that there are packages you can get for entrance to the museum, audio guides, etc. at the train station if you are interested. We had limited time to spend at Montserrat so we, sadly, could not spend the time to take advantage of all this.
Looking down towards Monistrol de Montserrat from the Cremallera
Heading up the Cremallera, a small green train can be seen on its way down
My Mom not realizing the down train was about to pass us!
The Cremallera railway station atop Montserrat to the right
It is worth noting that one can go even higher up the mountain via a second funicular (Funicular de Sant Joan) located behind the railway station atop Montserrat! It does not take long but, again, we were pressed for time so I had to skip that regretfully.
A second funicular can take you to the highest point in Montserrat – I am sure it’d be worth it!
My research showed there were a couple of places to stay on the mountain but I did not look into it. I do imagine it is a spectacular place to stay and watch the sun set and rise… If you visit Montserrat (or have visited it) and stayed at those places, drop a comment and share how it was!
Visiting the basilica and the Virgin of Montserrat
Once you get up, however you did so, everything atop Montserrat is in very close proximity and easy to navigate. There is some slope to walk up towards the basilica and monastery complex but it is a nice short walk. When you leave the railway station, you can go straight up some steps into the walkway up, or you can make a left and avoid the steps and walk up an incline. This last approach passes a little market shop and a small café in case you need to eat or drink something.
Walking up towards the monastery and basilica (there are restrooms in this alley)
Along the way up, you will pass the museum and one of the places of lodging up there. After you pass these places, then you enter the area called the “atrium.” It is a large plaza with some arches that affords views down towards the railway station and beyond. At that point, the basilica/monastery complex is in front of you. But to see the facade of the basilica, you need to pass through some arches into a small inner courtyard.
At the so-called “atrium” – a plaza with great views – up and down and across
Turning around with the basilica/monastery behind me – beautiful peaks all around
When we entered that courtyard, we saw a bride and groom who were about to get married. Thankfully, the event did not close the visit to see the Virgin of Montserrat (also called the black Virgin due to the color of the paint applied to it over centuries).
The entranceway towards the basilica facade – simple but beautiful
Inner courtyard of the Montserrat basilica – notice the wedding couple
Detail of the basilica’s facade
The interior of the basilica felt a tad heavy and dark to me but not so much to be drab. If there were no tourists, I would definitely feel like I could calm my soul and pray in peace inside the basilica.
Heavy Gothic feel to the interior of the basilica
A rather darkish yet gold-heavy interior – primed for the wedding about to take place
The statue of the Virgin sits in a narrow passageway above the high altar. You can see it from anywhere in the church (you can see someone in a blue jacket above the altar in some of my pictures; how convenient for my photo-taking!) but to visit it face-to-face, you stand in line in the inner courtyard off to the right and you proceed along the side chapels of the basilica, up several stairs and, eventually a very narrow staircase to individually get to see, touch and pray to the Virgin. Photos are not allowed once you are by the statue (there is a guard…). I took a respectful photo at the bottom of the steps so you can visualize the space at least.
The statue of the Virgin with a faithful wearing a blue jacket
Left: Initial staircase up. Right: the final steps and the statue at the top
As throughout the rest of the trip around Spain and France, I felt blessed to be able to come to this important Catholic site following our visit to Lourdes atop an amazing mountain in Spain with my wonderful mother and sister!! Thanks for coming with me! (And my uncle too!)
With my Mom and sister – lucky guy!
Pin this to your travel board – and visit Montserrat!
Visit Montserrat – an easy day trip from Barcelona!
Like Spain? Check out these other posts about places to see!
- San Sebastian in the northern Basque country with its great foods
- The jewel cities of Andalucía in Spain’s south: Córdoba and Granada
- The grand dame of Andalucía: Sevilla
- Some of the best of Madrid: 6 cool things to do there!
- The end of the Camino de Santiago: medieval Santiago de Compostela
- Doing the Camino de Santiago, a great ancient pilgrimage (day 1 of 7)
