Montserrat (Spain)

We returned to Montserrat, Spain. This time we gave the religious establishment a pass and headed straight out for the trails surrounding the monastery. Well, ok... first we did stop by the row of bright stalls tempting hikers and pilgrims alike with dried fruits and cheeses. Apparently, the town is known for their take on miel y mató (honey and Catalan fresh cheese similar to curd or ricotta), and at 1€/mini-tub, who could resist a little protein to start the trek?

We took the easier way up to Sant Joan, the steepest funicular I've ever seen. Riders seemed to lean subconsciously as it climbed the greater than 65% slope. Pepper, normally a confident public transport rider, did not like it.

Even from the top of the funicular, it is still a ways to go before making it to the highest summit at Sant Jeroni (1236 m/ 4055 ft). The trails snake around rocky outcroppings and some scrubby forest. Another hiker took advantage of the acoustics of the setting, serenading us with arias while we took a snack break. He appeared several minutes later - another case where the person did not match the voice... The rich tenor came out of a nerdy-looking skinny guy!

While some of the path has been fortified with poured concrete steps, other areas give way to crumbly shale. Occasionally, you'd turn a corner and bump into climbers setting up their harnesses, or one would appear out of nowhere from over the precipice. The views from the peak were worth the climb. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Mallorca, one of the Balearic islands.

Without the benefit of taking the funicular back to Montserrat proper, the way down was a grueling chain of seemingly endless staircases. At some point, people just stopped talking to push through it, and we lost half of our party in our pursuit to get it over with. Even the gentle slope from the parking lot to the restaurant was a struggle on shaky legs and the increasing cold as the evening drew in. A tiring, but great day in the open air!

Montserrat (Spain)

Montserrat makes for a pleasant day trip out of Barcelona. We made the journey with my parents and aunt and uncle. A regional train takes you to the bottom of the mountain, where you can catch the funicular or, in our case, a slow cable car up to view the lumpy chimney rock formations along the way. There is a Benedictine monastery at the top, and in the basilica, you can line up with the other hundreds of pilgrims to take pictures with the Black Virgin statue. During our visit, there seemed to be some special trip involving representatives from Nagasaki, but my grasp of Catalan is too nonexistent to catch it during mass (although by now, I have figured out, "germanes" do not refer to our European friends but "brothers" in the language). In the plaza, the locals caved to the tourist hordes and dance the sardana in peasant costumes with tinkling bells on their slippers.

The real reason for us to return to Montserrat I suspect will be the hiking. You can follow the row of market stalls offering tantalizing samples of locally aged goat cheeses, membrillo (quince paste), and dried fig concoctions to trails that wind up, down, and around the mountain range. Some of the more adventurous visitors, clad in performance wear and walking sticks in hand, shunned the public transportation options from the train in favor of the steep, rocky incline. Many looked like they had regretted it by the time they reached the top. We enjoyed a more leisurely trail around the mountain dotted with tiny shrines of painted tilework and picturesque landscapes viewed from the comfort of shady trees.