The Backpackers Hostel Blog

 The mountain Montserrat with the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat lies about 45 km northwest of Barcelona. Already from afar, the about 1,200-meter-high mountain is a grand sight. Even from above, you can experience a view far into the landscape of Catalonia.

The monastery of Montserrat is no specific architectural landmark, however excited the backdrop in which the ruins are build. Many of the tourists travel alone because of the statue of the Black Madonna, patron saint of Catalonia. The figure of the 12th century throne on the high altar in the basilica of the monastery. Her to honor Gregorian chants will be sang daily by about 50 choir boys (Mon to Sat 13:00 and 19.15, Sun 12:00).

In the Museum of Montserrat monastery, you can see work of major artists such as Dali, El Greco, Monet or Giordano. In addition, you see liturgical and archaeological exhibits.The monastery itself is only about 300m from the summit of Montserrat. Here are some well-marked hiking trails. When this is too difficult you can take one of the cogwheel railways almost to the summit.

The trip by train to Montserrat takes about 1.5 hours. A special highlight of the Route is certainly the trip by cable car or cog railway “Cremallera” on the hill.
Get off at the subway station in the Plaça Espanya train the FGC (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat) in the R5 line in the direction of Manresa. The train departs hourly from 08:36.
At the station “Aeri de Montserrat”, in orbit around the cable, or you drive a station to “Monistrol de Montserrat”. From there, every 20 minutes a cog railway runs up to Montserrat, directly to the monastery. The 15-minute ride is worthwhile. The price for adults is € 7.20 (return ticket).

Here you will find the Montserrat monastery on the map.

Taken from: http://www.barcelona.de