On Higher Ground
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2011
1
7
29
Trip End
Jan 27, 2012
Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain
Saturday, December 31, 2011
So we want to go further afield to see something out of the city. We arranged a tour with a mob called Julia's, but they were giving us the runaround, so we checked the internet and found another tour company called Explore Catalonia. I wanted to visit Figueres, where Salvidor Dali spent some time and to visit his museum, but the tour was unavailable for today.
So we decided to reach 'Higher Ground' and to visit the monastery at Montserrat.
We set off from the Hard Rock Cafe in the centre of Barcelona, and we would be making a stop at a winery on the way - at 10am? OK - I am up for anything!
We arrived at Pares Balta, which is a small independent winery not far from Barcelona. They produce a lot of different wines, including cava, which is the Spanish sparkling wine. We had a very interesting tour of the vineyard, and we were informed of the methods used to grow the grapes and that this vineyard is 100% organic,and have been so from 1790, when the winery was first developed. We were taken around through the processing area, and down to the caves, where the Cava was being held for the 3 years it needs to fully develop. After that we had a tasting of a number of the wines, which was very interesting.
Off we went again and up to the top of Montserrat, where the Benedictine monastery stands. It is the holiest place in Catalonia. The fisrt chapel was built in the 9th century, but that no longer exists, but in and around the mountains, hermits caves can still be seen. The monastery was destroyed during the War of Independence against France in 1811. It was rebuilt in 1844 and has been a large part of the culture of the Spanish people of this region, including during the Franco years. It is made up of a number of different buildings, but the Basilica is a beautiful work of art.
We went through the Basilica, which is dedicated to the Virgin of Montserrat, which was said to have been made by Luke and brought to the area by St Peter in 50AD. However the statue is apparently not that old, but we went through and looked and touched the hand of the statue before leaving the basilica to have a look at the rest of the mountain.
We then took a funicular train to the top of one of the mountains, where there are a number of hermit caves and a small church, dedicated to St Joan. Despite the steep incline and rough terrain, we managed to get almost to the top before having to return and meet our tour group. Standing on top of the world (almost), one can understand why the Catholics liked to build on top of mountains - there is a sense of being closer to God - I suppose!
This was a fun day and we have decided to extend our stay in Barcelona by a couple of days in order to visit Figueres on Tuesday!
