Up and Up and Up and ......Well, Up!

I had done a fair amount of research about Montserrat, a day-trip west of Barcelona. The literal meaning of Montserrat is ‘serrated mountain.’ The peak reaches over 4,000 ft. and it is home to Catalonia’s holiest place, the monastery. The monastery dates back to the 9th century and has survived military attacks and been rebuilt over the years.

Even locating the right train platform in Barcelona was a bit of a journey in its own right. I had downloaded some tourist guide information that said it would take some effort and they weren’t wrong. I had stopped to ask an information attendant at the identified departure station, who did not speak english, but after I showed my written information of what I was looking for, she took out her phone and pulled up a picture of a piece of paper with english directions on how to go up the stairs, out of the station, across the street to another entrance of this very large maze of train tunnels, and somewhere over there I should find what I was looking for. The tourist guide information had said to leave plenty for time for all of this interaction and I am glad I did. After a few more questions, my ticket was bought and I joined a diverse group of travelers on the platform waiting for the R5 train to take us to Montserrat.

Once seated, a woman who looked to be about my age sat across from me. As she was getting settled, I noticed she had the exact same tourist instructions that I had….and they were in english. So I asked, and she was from Sussex, England. She was also a solo traveler for a week and this was her last day in Spain. We exchanged stories and histories and got to know each other well over the day.

The main train leaves passengers off in Monistrol with two options, a cable car ride up to the monastery or a rail car/funicular. I had chosen the funicular, simply because it allowed more time to look around. As we had climbed in elevation to the Monistrol platform (end of the rail line and in the mountains) the clouds had moved in. It hadn’t occurred to me that I might be heading to a mountain destination that might be socked in, but there it was. Thankfully, as we climbed, we climbed above the clouds and at the top there were clear blue skies and sunshine with amazing rock peaks stretching up before us. It was truly breath taking. The pictures below don’t do it justice, but they will provide a glimpse of feeling that I was on top of the world.

As we got out and looked around we noticed there was still a 2nd funicular going to the very top of the mountain. It looked to be almost completely vertical, perhaps an 80+ degree incline. It was then June, my travel companion, told me she was scared of heights. While I leaned over walls and peered to and fro at the monastery-level, June was the one hugging the walls and cautiously leaning forward, often with a hand on something solid behind her. She asked if I was planning on going up. It was daunting, but I had to see what was on top. Yes, I said, yes I am.

After having lunch and going to the chapel in the monastery – which was stunning, we were hoping to hear the monks singing but they don’t during the Christmas season - June chose to join me on the ride up the 2nd funicular. When we were in queue for the tram there was a woman in front of us with a long Nike down coat that had the saying, “Just Do It” on the back. We took that as a sign.

The ride up was virtually ....vertical, but the track had been carved into the rock and was surrounded in large part by vegetation, so unless you had the window seat facing down, you really didn’t have a sense of what was being accomplished. It wasn't until after I got out that I thought of the weight of the train car, plus the weight of all those passengers, climbing up the mountain at that incline, and it was at that point that I ever so slightly let my breath out.

The top was spectacular. We could see the Pyrenees mountains far off to the north and the rest of the Catalan pre-coastal range that we were in and on top of. The clouds were far below us. By this time, June was simply so thrilled that she had made the trip that she wasn’t even aware of the path edges any more, or climbing up small crops of rock to take pictures.

On the way back down in the funicular we passed a mountain goat, munching on some shrubs. I wasn’t able to get a picture in time, but the sheer ability of this animal to cling to an almost 90-degree wall was astonishing.

We finished our day on the mountain warming up in the monastery café (it was 30 degrees at the top and I had come without socks and had to purchase a scarf at the museum shop to help keep warm. I met up with other English-speaking travelers from New York and we exchanged Barcelona stories and suggestions. On the train back to Barcelona we met a group of young American men who had travelled to meet one of their friends attending college in England and this was there holiday adventure. June and I continued to get acquainted over the ride back and she was a delight. She leaves Spain today, Saturday, but we know we will stay connected. She has always wanted to visit Vermont and I, of course, would always welcome the chance to go back to England. And the circle grows....