If you have ever visited the famous, cliff-hanging, Montserrat Monastery you likely had a lot of company–say, 50 other tour buses and 5,000 milling tourists, at a minimum.
Yes, it is a popular place.
You’ll see visitors of all shapes and sizes: devout religious pilgrims who have come to touch and then ask a favor of La Moreneta, yellow-umbrelled guided tours from Barcelona cruise ships, young and hairy Eurail Pass backpackers, European history buffs, geology fanatics, bored husbands (and bored wives…and restless kids), cyclists with lactic acid-laden legs, city folk in shorts and sandals, hikers in boots, masses of school kids from France, Germany, or Holland on tour, and, yes, even a handful of grungy rock climbers here and there.
But…might there be a way of avoiding the mad and maddening crowds that descend upon this very special energy center each day? Is there a way to sample something of the quiet solitude enjoyed, at least part of the time, by the few monks who live there?
In short, how might one visit Montserrat and actually hear what the mountain itself is saying?
Well, the answer is: stay up on the mountain for a few days. The hordes arrive daily around 9am and are mostly gone by 6pm or so. Therefore, if you stay overnight on the mountain, you’ll have some wonderful morning, evening, and nighttime hours perfect for quiet meditation, centering prayer, a peaceful walk, or just simply time and space to breathe in some tranquility.
To that end, here are three possible options, in descending order of cost:
—Hostal Abat Cisneros – This is the most comfy option, but the price per night for two adults at this three-star hotel will run you roughly 110 euros (breakfast included). I checked on prices for a random, mid-week, four-night stay in July, 2018, and their website calculator showed me 460 Euros (with breakfast only), 636 Euros (with breakfast and lunch), and 768 Euros (with all meals included). Considering the near-extraterrestrial location, these are actually reasonable prices; I would expect an equivalently spectactular place in the US of A would cost you at least double that. Still, if you are on a budget, this might be a tad expensive, so, maybe try the…
—Cel.les Abat Marcet – This is a more economical option than the above, and a bed and private shower are still included, but no meals. You’ll get a small apartment-like room with two twin beds–all very basic, but you can cook “at home” as it were. Checking prices, a four-night stay for two, mid-week, in July, 2018, would cost you 212 Euros. Not bad. Still too expensive? Well, then, how about the…
—Refugios – This is the student, healthy retiree, backpacker, and dirtbag climber option and costs a mere five Euros per night. Bring your own food, sleeping bag, and pad. The locations can’t be beat–far away from Tourist Alley and much higher on the mountain where you can actually hear the beating of the great conglomerate heart of the grand Montserrat massif. You have the Refugi Vincenç Barbé in the area of the Agulles (Needles) on the west side, about a 45-minute walk in from your car at Can Massana, and the Refugi de Sant Benet, about a 45-minute hike (up 807 steps, then some trail) from the main Montserrat Monastery. For both, be sure to check those links for current operating hours and prices as they are not always open, especially in the off-season.
For getting to/from the Monastery from Barcelona, you can take the train from Plaça de Espanya, then either the very airy telecabina (l’Aeri) from station Aeri de Montserrat, or the “zipper train” (Cremallera) from station Monistrol de Montserrat. All the info you need you’ll find underneath Placa de Espanya near the Metro lines (follow the signs). There is often an official tourist person next to the ticket machines to help you out with your purchase and finding the right train tracks.
There is another way to get there, though, that is both cheap and quick, if not quite as novel: the bus. It leaves the Sants Station Bus Terminal at 9:15a.m. and departs the Monastery at 5p.m. (6p.m. in summer) to return to Barcelona. The trip takes just over an hour each way and at 10.50 Euros for the round trip, it’s a bargain. Buy your ticket from the driver as you climb on board–exact change is very appreciated but not strictly necessary. This is the method we have used frequently for our Montserrat climbing trips.
One of the treats of being on the upper flank of Montserrat outside of normal “business/tourist hours”, whether hotel, “cel.les”, or refugio, is watching a sunrise from some 3,000′ above the surrounding lowlands. When it is clear and the humidity is lower, you can see both the shining Mediterranean Sea out beyond the city of Barcelona and the snow on the high Pyrenees–all with one easy turn of the head.
Sunrise on the monastery from the cross, with a sea of clouds below. In the far distance, on the right, you can see snow on the Pyrenees. The two big rock formations on the top left are the Elephant and the Mummy (hard to identify their unique features from this angle, though):
Montserrat, #18, Catalunya, 2018
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