Montserrat Spain: an unforgettable trip from Barcelona

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Travelling to Montserrat, Spain, is a great excursion from Barcelona. A mountain monastery high in the Sierra de Montserrat, this unique Spanish destination appeals to hikers, spiritual pilgrims and lovers of history. You can visit Montserrat as a day trip from Barcelona – and most people do – but I recommend lingering longer to soak up the atmosphere and dodge the crowds. Read on for my experience or scroll down for all the how to’s.

My experience at Montserrat, Spain

Another sacred spot, another failure. Ah, well. I look out over the wind-rounded ridges of Montserrat Mountain, Spain, wondering if I’ll ever live up to people’s expectations. Truthfully, I’d rather dodge them altogether. The wind blows my hair as I look past the Cross of St Michael and down over the valley floor of Catalonia.

 

St Michael’s Cross Montserrat

I breathe. Spread my arms wide like St. Michael’s Cross, the Creu de Sant Miquel. This is why I signed up for this tour of spiritual places in northern Spain. For a chance to experience the Sierra de Montserrat, a mountain ridge so improbable and moving the German philosopher Goethe declared, “Nowhere but in his own Montserrat will a man find happiness and peace.”

Like Goethe, I’m here at the ‘Serrated Mountain’ to find my inner Montserrat.

What I’ve found so far, however, aside from a stunning historical site that has a monastery, restaurants, museum and cathedral, is (yet another) confrontation with my non-robust self, my dread of pre-dawn tours and desire to hike alone (except when worried about serial killers and wild boars). A person who let the group down.

It’s not as if I set out to be a failure. In fact, let’s not call it failure. Let’s call it: Finding My Own Path, Which Happens to Be Slower, And Possibly Shorter, And Hopefully More Downhill Than Everyone Else’s Path.

The Serrated Mountain

At least our guide, Carlos, had been understanding when I’d confessed I wasn’t up for a pre-dawn 5-hour hike up Montserrat Mountain, so my companions, a handful of travel bloggers went without me.

And I went on my own time, following the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross. The Cross of St. Michael takes about 40 minutes to get to. A breathtaking lookout point with a vast view of Catalonia, it was to be the group’s first stop. Here they were going to watch the sunrise and drink hot “Coca de Montserrat.” I’m sure it was a life-changing moment full of camaraderie and epiphanies. My eyes sweep the ground for telltale signs of their stop, an empty cup with chocolate dregs crusting the bottom perhaps, or little paper flags from their home countries of Portugal, Norway and USA.

Of course there is nothing. Ethical hikers wouldn’t leave anything behind. It’s just me, St Michael’s Cross and Montserrat, a mountain that rises up so unexpectedly from the plains of northern Spain it’s said to have been carved by angels.

Where is Montserrat Mountain in Spain?

Sitting about 50 km northwest of Barcelona, the 10-km long Sierra de Montserrat mountain ridge was formed, if not literally by angels, then by a delta that deposited a mountain’s worth of sediment, gravel sands, and pebbles in a long-vanished ancient lake.

Then, for the last 20 million years or so rain, wind and acidic soil have used Montserrat Mountain as a way to express their creativity, carving and eroding it into fanciful shapes and needle-like columns.

 

From some angles the mountain looks like a mass of (slightly squashed) organ pipes sculpted from clay. At other times it looks cartoonish, the Flintstones version of a sacred mountain. Some say it looks like the fingers of God reaching up. One thing is certain. Montserrat Mountain is a tourist destination with a powerful presence and it’s one of the most popular day trips from Barcelona.

Monserrat Monastery of Spain and the Black Madonna

Above all, this Spanish mountain monastery is a pilgrimage spot. The devout come to the basilica to see the Black Madonna, a wooden statue found glowing in a cave back in 880 AD. The Black Madonna, said to have been carved by St. Luke himself, has a mind of its own. When it refused to be moved from Montserrat Mountain, by suddenly becoming enormously heavy and impossible to lift, the powers that be (the ‘powers’ in this case being Count Wilfred the Hairy) ordered a chapel built around it. The current benedictine monastery, the Santa Maria de Montserrat, was established in 1409.

(Mysteriously, the statue of the Black Madonna dates back to the 12th-century Romanesque era, making it 300 years younger than its actual discovery, but no matter – that’s how miracles work.)

What is Montserrat?

Montserrat, Spain, is many things to many people. For the Benedictine monks who live here, it’s the ‘Holy Mountain.’ The first religious buildings date back to at least 880 AD, when four chapels were constructed by the hermit monks who made this Spanish retreat their home. The first official monastery was established in 1025 and by the 1100s pilgrims were travelling here.

For hikers, it’s a natural paradise. There are a number of hiking trails of different lengths and levels, and the views from the ridge are far reaching and inspiring.

To New Age seekers Montserrat Mountain is the heart chakra of the world – you can see them gather in a particular spot in front of the basilica. The monastery doesn’t encourage the chakra hunters, but they do welcome spiritual pilgrims of all religions.

Now I’m trying to figure out what it is to me. I stare at the Cross of St. Michael, standing like a sentinel over the mountain, and think of Saint Michael. In addition to defending the faith, he is the judge of souls, weighing their worth on Judgement Day. It seems appropriate as today I’m judging myself.

Montserrat Museum – St Jerome

I’d like to hike farther (yes, I would so!) but I also want time to visit the Montserrat Museum on St Mary’s Square. For the culturally minded, it’s one of the top things to do in Montserrat. Among its many artworks is a famous Caravaggio painting, St Jerome in Meditation – a dark brooding painting that suits my contemplative mood.

The accidental museum

Montserrat Museum was created almost by accident – a Spanish-born phoenix that rose from the ashes of Napoleon’s troops, who sacked the monastery in 1811 in retaliation against the Catalan guerrilla fighters who had holed up here. If they could have, they probably would have smashed Montserrat Mountain itself.

The ruin of Montserrat Monastery in Spain

During the sacking Montserrat Monastery was destroyed, its precious jewels plundered, artifacts smashed – though the Black Madonna escaped unscathed – one of its many miracles.

Montserrat was forced to re-invent itself, or at least to rebuild. When the new Montserrat Basilica was erected in the late 19th century, the monks bought a few paintings for its walls. Unexpectedly, however, so many donations of artwork poured in, the vast majority from Catalan donors, that a museum practically established itself.

 

Hiking Montserrat Mountain

I take a last look out at the valley, give a nod to St Michael’s Cross then start the hike back. Do I need to re-invent myself like the monastery did? Re-build myself into something bigger and better? Someone who doesn’t desert her team? I place my palm against the rock of the mountain, as if to tap into Montserrat’s earthy energy, before walking on. After a few steps I come to a crossroads. One path leads up Montserrat Mountain; a challenging trail the group must have followed.

I take the other path, the one that leads down.

What do you do with your inner Montserrat once you find it?

A bird flashes out of a yew tree. I pause at the statue of an angel and think about what I gained from not keeping up. A leisurely breakfast (mountain sunrise not included) in the stone-lined dining room of the monastery hotel. A hike in the silence of early (but not too early) morning before the tour buses arrive. No blisters.

 

A short hike on a mountain in Spain

I start swinging my arms as I lope down the trail. Maybe life isn’t all about challenge and self-improvement. Maybe my inner Montserrat is about tranquility, silence and a fresh mountain breeze. Maybe you don’t have to climb every mountain in your path – at least not every day. And maybe once you find your inner Montserrat it’s not enough to bring you the peace and happiness Goethe refers to. Maybe once you’ve located it, you have to accept the person you find.

 

 

(PS: When I showed up for our hike the next day to the Cami dels Bons Homes, the Good Men Trail, near Berguedà, at the lovely hour of 10 a.m., only one other person wanted to go. Everyone else’s feet were too sore.)