Tuesday Montserrat

I got up an hour after my alarm was originally set. I had tried to find out the train times and decided I’d be fine if I wasn’t there FIRST thing in the morning. I had a feeling the train was at 10:30 so I was rushing to get to the Placa Espanya station in half an hour. I got off of the metro and raced to the train station bit. The train left at 10:36 and I had 6 minutes. I got a ticket and went down to the tracks.
The first bit of the ride was underground: BORING! The next bit reminded me of Korea—fairly modern buildings with little to no architecture. They had farm lands around them with people bent over working on them. They were small plots, just like Korea. Then we passed a bit that reminded me of New York or Philly—small buildings all hunched together. Then we passed a bit that was like home- hills and grasses. (on the way to Tarragona looked like Monterrey—with little dunes and tufts of grasses on them) WHERE am I?!
We could see Montserrat out the left side of the window as we approached, which reminded me of getting little glimpses of the Great Wall of China. This mountain is fairly silly looking. It’s like blobs of rock propped vertically next to each other. Some of them have smaller rocks connected on top in a sort of line of rock. It reminded me a little of Seoraksan because the rocks there were equally immense.
The train arrived at the station just in time to meet the Cremallera, also known as the Rack Railway. When I got on, I was trying to envision which side the view would be off of. I’d been on the wrong side on the train. As I stood there calculating, I noticed almost everyone else had chosen the left side of the train. They must know!! I chose that side too.

The first thing we saw was a cute little town along the river just below the mountain.
Then we went through a stone tunnel and clung to the edge of the mountain. We wound around the side of the thing. It was a little like looking at a topographical map. The mountain had almost rows of rock and rows of dirt that made perfectly horizontal lines.

We passed a big building, which I thought was it, but we kept going. I thought maybe we were going to wind back to it around the other side of the mountain, maybe it was too steep to access here.

We went through another rock tunnel and stopped in a big railway barn. We all disembarked and went up the escalators. I got outside and looked around. Now what? I decided first things first to find the WC as the sign called it. It sent me around the back side of the complex, through an arch and into a building on the back side.

After that, I went up a little bit and down some steps back to where I’d started. Why didn’t they just send me up the steps? I went into the information office to ask about the boys’ choir. Do they sing today? Where?
Then I went toward the main church.

It’s not an exquisite building—rather square and dull, with lots of windows. It was neat though to see the rocks beaming down over it. I saw a nun AND a monk on the way in.
Here’s the story. It’s a Benedictine monastery devoted to the “little dark one,” called La Moreneta. She’s a smoke-blackened statue of the Virgin. She was supposedly found in a cave by St. Peter in AD 50, but she was found in a cave here at Santa Cova in AD 880. They tried to take to town, but failed so they built a chapel where monastery now stands. The Basilica was built in the 16th century.
Outside, along the edge of the patio, called Placa de Santa Maria, just before the church, there are several arches that just face out to the valley. They have statues between each arch.


It was neat to look back across the square too

I went through the arch in the center of the building and found out that what you see from the outside is like a façade. Inside, there’s a protected square and the real front of the church.


To me the most impressive part of the square was the floor it had. It had a neat geometric pattern that felt somehow very important.

The other side of the square had a nice building as well. It had geometric décor with circles and windows.


There was a sign on the door saying that mass took place from 11 to 12 and it was not recommended to enter if you weren’t coming for mass. Well it was about 12:20, but I thought maybe it went over so I went around.
On the side of the church, there was a sort of alleyway with lots of space to light candles to various queens and saints. It was a bit like a cave at the beginning because it was completely made of stone. Further back, it opened out to a sunlit area that still had the stone of the mountain on one side.

Then I went back out to the courtyard and saw another door.

I opened it carefully and quietly, wondering if I was really allowed in there. I crept along a back passageway. It was on the far wall of the church. It was my first view into it. I was INSIDE the individual shrines, INSIDE the gates. Ummm, do they know I’m on the wrong side? Am I going to be in trouble if someone finds me? I kept going.

I passed lots of different stalls for prayer. They were all very intricate and interesting. I was most impressed, however, by the hanging metal lanterns that were scattered around the church.

There were lots of different styles and they were all super cool. They had chains that held them up and some of them were shell-shaped on the bottom.

It was my new favorite place on the mountain!

It was very lightly colored although slightly dark and mysterious. I felt like going up it must be important. On the sides, it had mosaiced angels and such. They were very regal looking and looked kind.
At the top, there was a large room with a case holding flags then a smaller room with a rounded ceiling and another arched hallway beyond.

These steps led to ANOTHER foyer to more steps.

It was also fascinating to me. I’d caught up with some other tourists, but I still felt a little like I was viewing a world I wasn’t really meant to be in. This arch also led to stairs and at the top, I could see into THE room. The walls and arched ceiling were all mosaiced. There were plants and animals and people and the background was almost all gold.


And in a small case in the middle of a big metal one, was THE Virgin statue. She was very small and black indeed. She was holding little Jesus and a sphere. On my way out the far side, I noticed that there was a break in the rounded glass at the sphere. You could TOUCH it! I went back up, making a bit of a scene as I squeezed by someone else going down the stairs. I wanted in on that! If it was good luck or religious duty, I wanted to do it!

Also, from the top, there was a sort of balcony that looked out over the church so everyone in it could see the Virgin. This clearly made an excellent photo op for me of the rest of the church!!

Then I continued, following the rest of the crowd. There were more arches and then I was spat out into the alleyway with the candles.
I went inside the main church for the first time, finally. I was going to look around, but people were already seated for the boys’ choir. They are called L’Esscolania. They sing the Slave and Virolai, a hymn to the virgin once every day.
I did have to take a couple of photos on the way in!

The church itself was pretty impressive. It was done mostly in a grayish blue, cream and gold. It felt very old and pristine. It had a massive organ.

The tops of the walls had cut outs with neat decorations.

The boys came out and I was still looking around. I didn’t even hear them come in!

Their little voices were rather angelic. They sang their first song with sheet music and for the second song, tucked their music into their robes and pulled their arms in as well. Then 2 of them came to a microphone and wished us a nice visit to Montserrat. The rest proceeded out behind the speakers and one boy elbowed one of the speakers. Boys will be boys even in religious clothes in the front of a church!

I took a few more pictures and then decided to go around the Virgin again. I’d missed the stairs to the crypt. Also, I liked wandering along the passageway. It seemed so secretive to me!

The whole church was speckled with stained glass windows.
The crypt had a statue of a man in a tall diamond shaped hat laying down at the front and plaques all over the walls. It was slightly creepy because it almost seemed like the man was literally laying there.
Back up my favorite archway and across the Virgin’s room and then off to the side, there was a little chapel. I’d seen it the first time, but it had real devotees in it so I didn’t want to disturb them by going in. This time, it was clearly all tourists so I could enter too.


It had ivory toned arches with flowery shaped decorations at the top. Beyond them, there were stained glass windows. They were very impressive. It was maybe my new favorite place in the whole church.

TBC…