We planned to go to Montserrat every time we visited Barcelona, but for various reasons we postponed it. The most frequent reason was the need to overcome about 50 km from the city, and set aside a whole day to visit. This time we traveled with friends, and collectively decided to get to this place after all.
The highlands of Montserrat (“Cut Mountains”) gave the name to a monastery located there, located at an altitude of more than 700 meters above sea level. Our friend Jordi, born and raised in Barcelona, said that Montserrat is a sacred place for the Catalans. We were very happy about our decision to visit it. According to him, usually, his known foreigners rarely arrive there. In general, we gathered with friends, and went to Montserrat. You can get there in different ways – by bus, car or train. Since the territory around the monastery is declared a national park of Catalonia (landscaped, by the way, for hiking ascents along mountain trails), we drove to it by car on serpentine, evaluated the opening views – it was a separate point of our trip.
The monastery complex itself contains many diverse attractions. There is a Benedictine monastery, which is over a thousand years old, the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary, which hosts the world-famous boys choir, as well as the local relic, the Black Madonna, which pilgrims come to, as well as a museum. The female part of our company was interested in more cultural objects, male, as you might guess, natural.
A special single-track mountain train, traveling under a strong incline, raises to the highest point of the complex. Next, there is a walking route for self-climbing. Part of this path goes along relatively gentle slopes, part had to be overcome with difficulty. In some places there were wooden handrails and flooring, somewhere I had to climb the steep slopes on my own. But it was worth it! Going to the top, we saw breathtaking views. The impression was only intensified by the fact that all signs of civilization were almost imperceptible from a height, and the sensations in these “wild” mountains were indescribable. Given that at the bottom (where all the main buildings of the complex were) during this period there were a lot of tourists, only a few of them reached the top. This allowed us to fully enjoy the moment.
We finished our trip at a local cafe near the train station. No matter how we looked, it was impossible to find a café with service, everywhere it was suggested to collect simple snacks with trays. But the views from the open terrace compensated it all – after all, you don’t come to this place for high-class cuisine. The strongest impression remained in the memory of being at the highest mountain point, amazing views, nature, a sense of solitude, taking into account we were in the middle of it. In general, we highly recommended it.
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