Life in Barcelona

Montserrat literally means “jagged mountain” and is used because of the peculiar aspect of the mountains which are visible from a great distance.

I’ll be there again, for my second time next week! It’ll be so exciting to climb these strange rocks again. On my first visit we were three people and a dog, we left the car at the bottom and we walked up until the sanctuary…when we got there, the dog was the more tired of the group! I really enjoyed that day, walking around, having a rest in every shady place, and watching the extraordinary views!

Inside the sanctuary there is a famous statue, the Virgin of Montserrat. This is a statue of the black Madonna, which in Catalonia is called la “Moreneta” (”The little dark-skinned one”). A legend said that the Benedictine monks could not move the statue to construct their own monastery due to its’ weight, and for this reason they decided to build one around it. There are a lot of legends surrounding Montserrat such as that of the Virgin Mary which was apparently discovered by shepherds, it said “they saw a bright light and heard heavenly music that eventually led them to the grotto and the statue”.

For this reason Montserrat (or Maria de Montserrat) is a popular name for girls in Catalonia.

The present monastery was built in the 18th century and restored after being destroyed by French troops in 1812.

To get to Montserrat you can go by car, bus or train. If you want to take the train from Barcelona you have to go to “Plaça Espanya” train station and take one of the “Ferrocarils de Catalunya” to Montserrat. You have to get off at the “Montserrat Aeri” train station, where you take the Cable car,  to get to the monastery (this in itself is an experience partyicularly for someone who ins’t so goo d with heights like me!!). Trains leave from Barcelona each hour from 8:36 AM through 17:36 PM. The combined round trip ticket costs more or less 12 euros.

Why not get in touch with your spiritual side and get some fresh air at the same time!

/Laura

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 5:02 pm and is filed under General Barcelona, Other, Things to do, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.