Day Minus 1 (Camino II): Montserrat

A place with such historical and religious importance that many Spanish girls and places around the world, including a Caribbean island, are named after it is definitely worth a day trip. At Placa Espanya we hop on a train on the Manresa line (yes, the renowned Los Gatos restaurant is named after it), and a little over an hour later we arrive at Monserrat (serrated mountains).

This was not a unique idea of course and even on a Monday we find, instead of a tranquil Benedictine monastery, masses of people and long lines everywhere.

Serrated Mountains of Montserrat: the day is overcast with limited visibility

Montserrat Monastery Complex

 

Montserrat Basilica

 

Two of the highlights here are 1) the daily concert by the Monserrat Boys' Choir at 1pm, for which the basilica is overflowing by 12:30pm, and 2) an up close view of the Black Madonna statue for which the wait turns out to be two hours. We manage to do both efficiently (the details of how will remain undisclosed).

 

Montserrat Boys' Choir entering the Basilica

Monserrat Boys' Choir performing at the Basilica. The Black Madonna is seen high in the center.

The Black Madonna

A stream of visitors passing in front of the Black Madonna

An art work in a side chapel

 

A map of Camino de Santiago de Compostela! (taken from the line waiting to see the Black Madonna)

 

The last turn to see the Black Madonna

 

As we enter the santuary, donations are voluntary of course!

 

Finally, a touching encounter with the Black Madonna.



A full view of "La Moreneta"

 

Back in the plaza, a street vendor calls us over by yelling "hello, delicious goat cheese" in Korean. I complement him on his perfect Korean and he says in English that the cheese will not go bad even if we take it to San Francisco. His demographic stereotyping was eerily accurate and we buy the cheese and also a dried fig cake.

fig cakes

Rocky Background

A funicular takes us up to the mountain top - with extensive trails, fine vista and a number of historical hermitage sites, this looks like a great area to explore. Alas, the weather is turning bad and we only make it to the first hermitage and walk back.  We finish with a visit to the sacred grotto where an image of Virgin Mary was supposedly discovered in the ninth century.

A short hike at the top brings you to a hermitage of Saint Joan

Entrance to Santa Cova, a sacred grotto

Santa Cova is the legendary site of the discovery of a Virgin Mary image in the ninth century, which in the process of being transported to Manresa could not be moved beyond a nearby site, prompting the first Montserrat church to be built there.