Breadstick Mountain

Yesterday, despite the rare, gloomy weather here in Barcelona, a group of 5 of us from the residencia got up Spanish-early (9 AM) to head to Montserrat. Montserrat is a steep, jagged mountain that reaches up over 1200 meters. Although it cost 10 euro round trip and left your glutes unhappy, it was definitely worth the money and effort to see the rock formations and the view at the top. It was by far the coolest site I’ve laid eyes upon here in Spain.

The day started off with a train ride out of Barcelona towards a small town about an hour away called Manresa. As the train was nearing the station, Montserrat loomed over as this standalone mountain reaching up into the clouds. About a third of the way up the mountain, you could see the Monastery (on which construction started over 1000 years ago) and Abbey perched almost precariously between the rock faces. It was quite a site to pull up too, especially since it looks nothing like the area around the city.

A gondola took us up about half the mountain until we reached the Monastery. The ride up was almost vertical, and we had our eyes on Kyle because we knew he was afraid of heights. We headed over to the Monastery once we got there to check it out before the hike. The inner sanctuary was ornate, filled with Latin just so the builders could show off their vocabulary, and surrounded by smaller cathedral rooms dedicated to saints. A couple of the rooms were dedicated to reclusive monk hermits that had lived in caves in the mountain! But the main attraction, high above the altar, was the Black Virgin statue of Mary holding a young baby Jesus who is holding a pineapple. That last detail is a symbol of both livelihood as well as a strong case for starting your baby on the pineapple diet.

We got pretty restless inside the Monastery since it was crowded and slow moving, so we burst with energy toward the start of the hiking trail. The trail ended up essentially being a two-hour Stairmaster. It was comprised of the six of us understating how tired we were. We climbed about 600 meters in all, but the last 30 minutes of the trail was hidden in trees, so we had no idea how high we were until we came upon the top pretty suddenly. It was an awesome surprise. The pictures can’t convey how steep the drop was all the way down the mountain. We had gone from sea level down at the train station to 1250 meters above, so it was pretty amazing to look straight down on the valley below.

View from the bottom of the gondola.

Just starting the ascent and we're already this far up!

Check out that beanie, Kaley.

A good view of the rock faces right behind the Monastery.

The inner sanctuary of the Abbey.

All of us guys eatin' their bocadillos. Not pictured: Megan, who also ate a bocadillo.

What poor souls had to lay down the concrete for all these stairs?

Not even close to the top, but already cool looking. 

Megan looking like a mountain woman. 

The sun breaking through the clouds towards the top. 

Close to the top!

I did not expect to see snow in Spain. Also note that I'm sporting the basketball shorts like a true Californian. 

That's 1250 meters (about 4000 ft?) of sheer, straight drop. 

Me and Megan atop Catalunya. 

As we were standing at the top, throwing snowballs and yelling into the rocks below (ok, maybe that was just me), it was hard to believe that we were just outside of sunny Barcelona. I hope I won’t forget being at the summit of Montserrat for a long time. I definitely recommend it to anyone traveling to Barcelona…a lot of history and a rewarding hike thrown into one.

We were all exhausted on the train back. I, for one, drooled while sleeping across from a German man and woke up to his disapproving eye contact.