Montserrat, Spain - GPS: 41.59673N 1.83843E

Note: Published Feb. 4, 2008 but back dated to be in chronological order with our travels.

After a few very busy days in Barcelona, we decided to head to Montserrat. Monastery, culture, nature - all to be enjoyed in a spot that is theoretically best reached by a combination of train from Barcelona, followed by rack railway or cable car up the mountain.

Folks along the way were dubious as to whether our motorhome would make it. No one seemed to know whether or not staying in the motorhome would be allowed. A call to the parking office assured us there was room to park our 35' beast. The person I spoke with indicated that while unsure of the "official policy" he knew others stayed in their motorhomes while visiting.

We found Montserrat easily enough and surprisingly, the route up was quite nice. Roads were wide and well banked and as it was a Monday, there was no tourist traffic for us to deal with. (I believe we took the BP-1103 off the A-2 on the way up.) We found three other motorhomes in the parking lot and parked near two in the mid-section of the lot. (we eventually moved a bit so we weren't sleeping "downhill.")

The views are striking and the landscape phenomenal. Here you see the view from our door...don't jump! Being the off-season, it felt like we largely had the place to ourselves. Tourist traffic was very low and while that also meant the main cafeteria was closed, it allowed us to selfishly enjoy the surroundings without competition.

Monday afternoon, we explored the grounds and the Basilica. Inside, it's silent and extremely ornate. When you exit and enter the side door to the right, you are led through the side corridor, up steps, and to pass directly in front of the statue of the La Moreneta (The Dark One) which is the patron saint of Catalonia. After touring the Basilica, the doors exit to the cave of candles. There are so many candles burning you can feel the increase in air temperature! Very beautiful and serene.

Approaching:

Top of the landing, outside the Basilica courtyard:

Basilica facade:

Cave of candles:

After a quick dinner, I coerced the family back up to the Basilica at 6:15 to hear the Boys Choir. However, I had not memorized the timetable well enough. 6:15 is Rosary (no singing) and 6:45 is Vespers (singing at the end)-we should have arrived at 6:45. Not knowing, we sat quietly in the back, listening to the Rosary (in Latin, I believe) with the Monks responding in the background. At 6:45 the bells started ringing and the monks entered the Basilica for Vespers.

At the end of Vespers, the monks sing and the Boys Choir enters to join in. Attendees are presented with the contrast of the deep resonating adult voices against the high, almost angelic boy's voices. The monks departed and the Boys Choir sang two additional hymns. Beautiful and yet ghostly. Sophia and Megan thought the voices of the Boys Choir hurt their ears. Hurrah! They finally understand how their own screeches and squeals sound to us!!

Personally, seeing the boys enter almost brought me to tears. I couldn't help but think of kids barely older than Megan being sent off to live at a monastery. The boys are educated on site and sing five times daily. I'm sure there is a process in place to accomodate familial association. Just was a little disturbing to see the group of mostly young boys, away from home, arms tucked inside their white tunics as they entered and exited. My mommy heart couldn't help but break just a little and think these kids are somehow being deprived of their childhood and family bonds.

By the time we returned from Vespers, the two motorhomes near us had left. So, here we were, in a deserted section of the parking lot, by ourselves. On one hand it was kind of cool. On the other, a little eery. Needless to say, we had a fairly restless night. Wanting to be unobtrusive, we left the sliders in. The parking lot is attended and there was no reason to feel uncomfortable - other than we were waiting for someone to knock at any moment and ask us to leave. Believe it or not, we could hear the echo of dogs barking from the valley below. I know I should be able to tune it out by now, but something about feeling alone and isolated on the side of a mountain made it all the more irritating at 1am.

Tuesday morning I headed out for chocolate croissants as a treat - nothing like a bit of buttered chocolate with coffee to cure the effects of a restless night. The road construction near the top was already in process, but I was the only "tourist" and there were several times that the machinery stopped. In awe, I enjoyed several minutes of complete silence intermingled with the gorgeous landscape during my walk (~1/2 km each way). For me, that alone was worth the trip. After breakfast and lots of coffee, we headed out our separate ways. Dan and Megan were off to hike the St. Jeroni trail; Sophia and I were intent on visiting the museum.

Turns out, the trail was entirely inappropriate for Sophia. Dan and Megan made it in about 2.5 hours RT. Megan was simply beaming when they met up with us. Her face aglow, her spirits lifted at accomplishing such a feat. She's turning into quite the little hiker. They passed other Americans struggling on the trail and Dan threw out, "If she (Megan) can make it, so can you." Ouch. After summitting, someone else they had passed made it up and pointing at Megan, said to Dan, "muy rapido." That's our girl.

Trail perspective:

View from the top:


Rapido niña: (OK - hope this isn't Spanish slang for something other than my intention - I'm so proud of Megan that she completed the hike with Dan and in such great time - couldn't resist trying to use the quote from the hiker they encountered on the trail.)

Sophia sat contentedly in her stroller while I wandered the museum, listening to the audio guide. We were virtually the only visitors and I couldn't help but think that off-season traveling is the way to go.

We greatly admired the work of Caravaggio (Repentant Saint Jerone), Picasso, Dali, Monet, and many others. I particularly enjoyed the Catalan collection and being introduced, specifically work by Fortuny and Nonell. I don't know how much of it Sophia really enjoyed - but there were certainly paintings and sculptures that struck her fancy and elicited a comment. One, of a little girl sitting at the piano but turned to look at the painter looked so much like Sophia that she actually asked, "Is that me?" Another sculpture, of a mother holding a child, brought forth an "aww. Look. It's a mommy holding a baby. Is that you, mommy?" Very sweet.

By the time we finished with the paintings, I was overwhelmed to the point of not being able to take in any more artwork and Sophia was ready to get out of the stroller. One funny note, the audio guide mentions a quote about the area - "A man is not truly married until he visits Montserrat." Not entirely sure how that is supposed to be interpreted, but hey, Dan, I guess you are now "truly" married.

No stopping point is complete without a playground. =)

We headed out almost precisely 24-hours after we first arrived. The only surprise to the whole trip was that we were charged the "bus" rate for parking. 24 Euro for 24 hours! The car rate is only 5 Euro. Kind of a bummer, but at least the money goes to the ongoing support of the Monastery.