We booked a full day tour out to Montserrat and a nearby winery. The day started early and we took the metro into the gothic area before most things were open to catch the tour. From there, our first stop was Montserrat.
Journey at a glance
- Route: We started at the first train station built in Spain – Estacio de Franca.
- Scheduled duration: 9 hours
At the departure station
We met the tour company at the train station. Getting there was pretty easy on the metro – Encants to Passiege de Gracia, change trains and got off at Barceloneta then walked 5 minutes to the front of the station.
Experience
Once on the bus with 6 others, we departed and drove through Barcelona and out into the country. Our guide was telling us that the government went through a cleanup phase for the Olympic Games – closed all the factories in town, closed the main coal power plant along the water, and cleaned the town of all the black soot. They kept all the smoke stacks as a remembrance to the past.
Once out of the city, we travelled through the countryside; passing through some small villages and abandoned factories. Factories were built around rivers because they used the river water to operate the factories. As goods became more expensive to produce in Spain, factories closed and production shifted to other parts of the world that was cheaper to manufacture.
With the mountain in sight, we began our slow climb up the twisted road. As we climbed, our guide told us the history of the mountain. It was originally at the bottom of a vast ocean and centuries of sand deposits, sandstone was made. Over a few more centuries, earthquakes and plate tectonics pushed up the mountains in the area 59 create the Pyrenees mountains which separate France and Spain. Then a few more centuries pass and erosion makes the mountain that Montserrat sits on today.
During a spat between France and Spain (Peninsular war between 1808 and 1814 – the Spanish part of the napoleonic war), Montserrat was considered to be used as a stronghold. It was fortified and was a base for Catalan forces to drive back the French. But let’s back up a bit to the origins.
Montserrat was founded in 1025 by Abbot Oliba of Ripoll. It always was a site of religious hermitages before but nothing of scale was built. The sit itself is well over 1000 years old and still holds significant religious meaning. The buildings are all built from locally sourced sandstone.
Fast forward to after the war, since it was fortified and used as a stronghold, the French bombed it heavily and destroyed majority of the monastery. In the late 1800’s it was decided to rebuild and in 1900 and 1901, the monastery was rebuilt using old paintings for reference and again, locally sourced sandstone. Since then, it’s been expanded and built upon to support the increase in tourism – both pilgrimages and normal tourists.
The monastery still houses around 80 monks, 40 children (they are known for the children’s choir) and on an adjacent property, nuns. We toured around the monastery itself and was able to go inside. The cloister is home to the Black Madonna. An artifact found in a nearby cave that has turned black from age.
The outside of the monastery was just as spectacular as the inside. They’ve turned a portion of the main building into a massive museum that houses donated pieces from around the world. We did not go inside the museum as there was not enough time.
To get up to the monastery, there’s three options – cogwheel train, road, or cable car. We drove up and took the cogwheel train down.
From the monastery, you can take a cogwheel train to the top of the mountain (very steep), a cogwheel down to the Cave of the Black Madonna or a cogwheel to the bottom. There’s also a hike from the monastery that takes you around the far side to a small church that was built by a single pilgrim. Pilgrims are allowed to stay on the mountain with one condition – they must be self sustaining and cannot leave the mountain. They have to collect their own rain water, grow their own food, and find their own supplies. As a result, there’s small chapels all throughout the mountain top that house these dedicated monks.
Local farmers and artisans would make the daunting trek up the mountain with various cheeses, preserves, produce, and whatever else they produce to trade with the monks. The market is now open to the public and we bought some local cheeses – Trofu (truffle), charcoal and lemon, and chili. We sampled fresh almonds and rosemary (can’t wait to try and make them at home).
We had about 1.5-2 hours of “free time” up top so we decided to go on a hike to a nearby chapel. A short hike but steep in sections. The views from the cross were spectacular. At the ¾ mark, we encountered a gate with Archangel Michael protecting the way.
Afterwards, we took the cogwheel to the bottom and met the tour bus to take us on to the winery.
The winery
The winery was an interesting stop. It’s been in the same family since 964 producing wine the entire time. Our guide told us that there was a bug that decimated the grapes so they imported grapes from North America which were hardy against the bug. They grafted the roots of the old varieties onto the stems of the new ones to produce a stronger variety. The grape of the region is picapoll which produces both red and white wine.
While the winery may have been brought into the 21 century for making wine, the process hasn’t changed much – grow, pick, macerate, press, ferment, strain, settle, bottle. They stopped macerating by foot because it’s too dangerous – apparently if you loose your footing and fall in the grapes, the fumes of the grapes can cause you to pass out.
We sampled 4 wines – 1 white blend, 3 reds. Most were blends. Unfortunately we didn’t learn much about the wine as the other 6 members of our group were more concerned with their own stories than the guide.
We had a great lunch here which consisted of various cheeses, meats, pincas (pinch’s aka tapas), and a dessert. All of it was great.
From top left to right: vegetable dumpling, mushroom croquette, fish croquette, cheese croquette, spinach croquette.
Meats: ham, fuet (small rounds), iberico ham.
Cheeses: 2 kinds of manchego. The larger triangle ones I’m not sure what kind it was. It was strong and creamy.
The other one on the plate was a Spanish omelette (egg and potato) and a fire roasted pepper.
Not shown: bread and crushed, strained tomatoes.
Dessert: a sweet cake with a caramel sauce on top.
After lunch, we were able to go up the tower (the winery built – in the last 100 years – a fort of sorts) and view the country side.
This was our last stop before heading home. The drive went by faster and quieter as the other 6 people slept most of the way home (it was a nice change). We were dropped off at the same train station that we were picked up at. When we were getting off the bus, our guide took us aside and gave us some great restaurant places that he goes to. Those are on the list for Monday and Tuesday.
Justyn Perry
Justyn shares first-hand travel stories, honest recommendations and the practical details that make a journey easier to plan.
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