According to legend, the Benedictine Monastery of Montserrat came into being in the year 880 when a small group of shepherd children saw a bright light descending from the sky in the Montserrat mountains. At that moment the children heard angels singing and the music filled their hearts with a radiant joy. These visions apparently occurred in a cave on the mountain and when this cave was explored by the religious elders of the community they found an image of the Virgin Mary. From that moment on the cave became a holy sanctuary for religious pilgrims.
Whether you hold religious views or not, the mountains of Montserrat and the monastery are well worth a full days visit. We don't recommend visiting Montserrat in the high summer or at the weekends when it becomes extremely busy. The mountain of Montserrat became a National Park in 1987 and the black Virgin of Montserrat was proclaimed patron saint of Catalonia in 1881. Today, the Monastery houses some 80 benedictine monks who dedicate their lives to prayer, work and social duties with the visitors.
The mountain itself reaches a height of over 4000 feet. There are some fantastic walks above the Monastery which take from an hour or so to over 5 hours. It's not recommended to tackle these walks in mid summer and take plenty of water as well as comfortable hiking shoes. Once you get to the top of Montserrat, surprisingly there are some very nice shaded walks and although the majority are like the image to the left, some are very close to the edge and are not for the faint-hearted or for those that suffer from vertigo.
To help you get around the mountain, there are some cog railways and tickets can be purchased on the mountain. They do not however allow dogs. We suggest that you take a picnic with you as the food served in the restaurants is not brilliant. Another highlight a visit to the monastery is to listen to the famous Basilica choir boy performances of Gregorian chants and other genres of religious choral music. They can be heard free of charge in the Basilica at 13:00 daily with the exception of Christmas holidays, July and some other festive periods during the year. For more information about Montserrat, please see their interactive website
http://www.montserratvisita.com
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