Montserrat

This weekend was my first one here without anything to do, so we figured it was a good time to venture to Montserrat, a monastery about an hour and a 1/2 from Barcelona.  Montserrat in particular is nestled very high up in the mountains and has been in active use for the past 1000 years! I still can't believe that things that old really exist here… so unlike US history!

Madeline, Katie, Frannie, and I left about 10am to take the train to Montserrat.  This was the first time we had actually left the city, and it made me remember how much I love been out in the mountains and being in nature.  After the train we took this cool railcar up the side of the mountain about 4000ft (the gondola that goes the same route was broken) and arrived at the beautiful monastery! We spent the first few minutes gawking at the amazing view and then joined in the very long line to see the Virgin Mary statue that many people travel very far to see.  After passing through many small rooms on the side of the cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows, we finally arrived at the virgin.  The room, or shrine more so, was absolutely beautiful.  The small wooden statue was in a room covered floor to ceiling in golden mosaic tiles.  We took photos with the famous carved statue and rubbed the hand of the child in the statue for good luck! We continued on to a small prayer room of reflection behing the virgin that was beautiful, as well.

(San Clemente!)

After leaving the statue area we came upon candle offerings to the virgin.  We all purchased colored candles, placed them in the altar, and lit them.  Each of us read the traditional prayer offering to the virgin in Castellano (Español) and continued on into the basilica where we saw a traditional Catalan mass.  We were able to participate in the mass and even take communion from the monks… such an incredible experience!  I still can’t believe I attended a service at a church that’s been active for the last 1000 years.  We received blessing of holy water and left the church after the service to hike around the mountain.  We enjoyed the beautiful views, and I remembered how much I absolutely love being hiking in the mountains!

After our hike we decided we would stop by the small farmers market before catching the train back to the city.  We tasted the most delicious fresh, home-made cheeses I’ve ever had, along with delicious cheesecakes, fig pies, and honey.  My favorite was definitely goat cheese with rosemary.  We each purchased mató, a sort of yogurt type of cheese dish covered in fresh honey.  (Side note: mató is the past tense of the verb “to kill”, but I’m hoping it had nothing to do with the yogurt.)  We chatted with the Catalan woman who sold us the treats (who even complimented us on our Spanish!) and took our food to head back on the train.  After the 20 minute rail ride, and hour train through the countryside, we arrived back at the Plaza Espanya station in Barcelona, just a few blocks from our homestay.

The day was absolutely beautiful, and it was so nice to escape from the big city for a bit!  This week marks the start of one of my classes (the others start in 2 weeks), a spontaneous trip to the south of Spain on Thursday morning (we currently only have a one-way plane ticket and are working out the other details), and moving into our very own apartment when we return on Sunday!