12/5/14 A day trip to Montserrat outside of Barcelona to see the beautiful Santa Maria de Montserrat abbey and to summit the peak of Sant Jeroni.
1 After a short train ride from Barcelona, a cable car takes you a couple thousand feet up to the Montserrat monastery.
2 An alternative to the cable car is the rack train. One arrives at the same location as the cable car and then a couple others go higher up the mountain. This one goes to the funicular de San Juan and is a near vertical climb! I wanted to take it just for the experience, but didn't get a chance.
3 The courtyard outside the monastery hanging above the valley floor.
4 One of the buildings outside the monastery.
5 Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey and site of believed visitations by the Virgin Mary. It's also considered to be one of the potential locations of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend.
6 Entrance to the Basilica.
7 Beautiful marble courtyard outside the Basilica entrance.
8 Inside the Basilica. Awe inspiring for me. Of the multiple cathedrals I saw on this trip, Montserrat was unquestionably my favorite. To add to the effect, the pipe organ was playing in beautifully rumbling low frequency tones. There wasn't supposed to be pictures allowed in this area, but I just couldn't resist!
9 My attempt to record the organ music in the Basilica. Definitely need a better mic to capture the rumbling low tones.
For best performance, you can view the video on YouTube.
10 Above the altar, looking back towards the entrance. This is an active church and home to one of the top choirs in Europe.
11 The Black Madonna (Virgin of Montserrat) depicting the Virgin Mary in the alcove above the altar.
12 A side chapel in the Basilica.
13 Cami de l'Ave Maria. Patrons light candles in homage to the Virgin Mary. The flickering colors in the dimly lit alley are beautiful.
14 Leaving the abbey area, there are great statues everywhere. My plan for the day was to run to the Sant Jeroni (Saint Jerome) summit above the monastery. It's the highest peak on Montserrat and a popular destination.
15 The information center said it was a 4 hour round trip to the summit. I had a little over 2 hours until the last cable car left. If I didn't catch that one, I'd be staying on the mountain for the night. I decided to take my chances, and hoped that 4 hours was measured in tourist time. The trail is really steep right from the start with tons of stairs.
16 Looking back down at the monastery as the trail climbs steeply.
17 Lots and lots of (very interesting) stairs.
18 Looking up at the Serrats (serrated peaks) near the summit. I believe one of them may be Sant Jeroni.
19 The upper section of the trail is beautiful, tree covered single track.
20 La Ermita (Hermitage- place of religious seclusion) de Sant Jeroni.
21 A really old set of stairs, almost to the summit.
22 The last flight to the top.
23 The Sant Jeromi summit at 1,236m (4,055').
24 Memorial compass on the summit.
25 Looking across at what I assume is the old memorial summit marker before the new one was built.
26 I hop over to the other marker. It's probably a thousand foot drop off the edge.
27 Looking back at the other peak.
28 One of the craziest things I've ever seen on the trail. Perfectly concentric rainbow rings hovering in the clouds in the distance. The shadow in the middle is my silouette projected from the Sant Jeroni summit. Bizzare. I still don't know what was causing it. Given the religious significance of the area, it was a little eery.
29 Another angle as the clouds dissipated.
30 I just happened to see four Chamois walking down the side of the Serrat. Amazing they can get down that incline!
31 I caught the last straggler on video.
For best performance, you can view the video on YouTube.
32 The last wisps of cloud drifting over the serrats.
33 View of the Catalonia valley below.
34 360 video with clouds blowing over the summit.
For best performance, you can view the video on YouTube.
35 Time to head back down.
36 Very interesting terrain up here.
37 Impressive looking serrats everywhere.
38 I had decided to take a longer route down since I made good time on the way up. The trail was definitely not as nice, but there were wide open views of the valley below.
39 Another panaroma from further down the trail.
40 Creu (Cross) de Sant Miquel.
41 View of the monastery from the Creu de Sant Miquel.
42 Back down to the abbey area. I ended-up finishing the run in right around 2 hours, leaving me a little time to blow through the Montserrat museum and see an amazing collection of art including Picasso, Monet, Degas, and Dali. Then I rushed back to the cable car to catch the last car down. I walked up just as they were boarding. I had definitely squeezed every last minute out of of my time on Montserrat!