Montserrat

A couple of weeks ago we had a long weekend, and decided to visit Montserrat, a mountain near Barcelona with a Benedictine Abbey (Santa Maria de Montserrat) on it.  Montserrat literally means "jagged (serrated) mountain" in Catalan, due to the rugged nature of the rock formations there, which are quite beautiful.  The Black Madonna of Montserrat, one of the patron saints of Catalunya, is housed in the Abbey.

To reach Montserrat, we took a cable car up to the abbey.  Once there, you can visit the Abbey, a nice art museum, take a funicular train further up the mountain to do some hiking, and a funicular train partly down the mountain to walk a really cool path with various altars, including one created by Gaudi, to the Church of the Sacred Cave, in which the Black Madonna was originally found.

Montserrat from the cable car station.

Don't worry, the cable car is German-built.

The facade of the abbey.

Inside the abbey.

Some votive candles in a shrine
outside the abbey.

A view from the Hermitage of Sant Joan,
after a nice little hike.

The rock formations seem like an
alien landscape in some places.

A nice view.  The scenery ain't too bad either...

More rock formations.

Another nice view.

On the path back to the Abbey.

A statue along the path.

Another really cool rock formation.

Cable cars from above.

An ornate crucifix along the path to the
Church of the Sacred Cave.

From Gaudi's contribution
along the path to the Church.

A replica of the Black Madonna, in the
Sacred Cave where it was originally found.
The real one is in the Abbey, which we also saw,
but could not take pictures of.