May 28 Montserrat Monastery

Cog railway monastery

We traveled from our hotel via metro and train to the base of the mountain at Montserrat which connected to a cog railway up the mountain to the monastery.  The train is also connected with a cable car gondola that you can take up the mountain instead of the cog rail.  You've gotta love how Europe is so interconnected for travel.  Cindy likes her feet on the ground, so we took the cog rail.  Montserrat (actually Santa Maria de Montserrat) is the site of a Benadictine monastery which houses the Black Virgin of Montserrat.  Once you reach the monastery you can then take a funicular three and a half minutes straight up the side of the mountain.  There are several hiking trails at the top, one of which we started on, but unfortunately we had a major downpour which prevented us from hiking as far as we'd have liked.  Fortunately the downpour happened while we were checking out a former hermit's cave, so we stayed dry, and met some fellow hikers from the United States. Enjoy the pictures.  (41°35'35.6"N, 1°50'17.8"E)


Montserrat Monastery

View from the plaza of funicular (line on mountain)

View down funicular.



Hermit's cave just before the downpour

Misty mountain after the downpour

View from top of funicular