We were originally planning to have a free day to simply walk around and get lost in Barcelona on our most recent trip, however instead I decided to book a tour up to Montserrat to see the Basilica, the cool views, the weird mountain, and check out a winery.  I booked through Castle Experience Tours.  There are about a billion tour companies offering different tours from Barcelona to Montserrat, however I chose this one due to the winery stop for lunch.  Booking through Castle Experience was seamless, and their instructions were easy to follow. 

We arrived at the Barcelona bus station in the morning and we checked in for the tour.  There were about 40 or so people there all going on different tours, and we were sorted into groups and we loaded onto a large coach bus.  The trip to Montserrat takes about an hour, and the bus was pretty comfortable.  When the mountain comes into view, you cannot take your eyes off it.  It is so strange looking, and juts up from the plain very suddenly.  

The bus took a very slow and winding road up towards the top of the mountain.  I am really glad I was not driving, as the drop-offs are huge and there are views to the plains below for days.  We reached the top and separated into our different groups.  Edu was our guide, and he was very excited and knowledgable about the Basilica.  While our ticket did not include actually going up to the Black Madonna, or “La Moreneta,” it could be seen from the pews of the church.  There is a very long and legendary history about this, which I am not going to get into here, but suffice to say that this statue was allegedly found by some shepherds who saw a light on the mountain in the year 880 AD.  They found the statue which they tried to take to the Bishop in the town, but it became so heavy they could not move it.  The basilica was eventually built around the statue. 

The basilica is very strange – almost the opposite of the Sagrada Familia in that it is very dark and brooding.  There are super cool lanterns from all of the regions of Spain hanging along the sides. This place is oozing with history, both political and religious, and I would highly recommend a visit with a guide if you are into either of those things.  

After the basilica, we had some free time, so we went to the Museum of Montserrat because, guess what? They had a Caravaggio painting!  Caravaggio did a bunch of paintings of St. Jerome writing, and they are always striking due to the usually black background, red colored cloth and always, always a skull.  It was unfortunate that this painting was behind glass, so you had the glare of the lights on the black background, but still cool nonetheless.  Otherwise, the Museum of Montserrat was a small and quaint little place, with a huge focus on Spanish artists with a nice collection of impressionists.  We walked through here in about a half an hour.  Afterwards, we walked over to the little farmer’s market and sampled some cheeses, meats and nuts. 

By the time we were done shopping, it was time to hop on a (different) bus to drive down to the winery, which would also be our lunch stop.  The winery was outside of the town Manresa, and used to be a castle.  It is called Oller del Mas. We were served three different wines, all native to the region, but, unfortunately, I did not take very good notes.  We had a small plate of tapas for lunch, including cheese and ham and other yummy bites, as well as some bread and dessert.  It was filling enough, since it was over 100 degrees which does not lend to a big appetite, although don’t expect to get full on this lunch.  We had some free time at the winery as well, so we were able to taste a few other wines for purchase.  The best part about the winery was the cool view of Montserrat from there.  It was a bit hazy, so the photos did not turn out well, but it was so neat to see the mountain hulking over the beautiful vineyard.  

Finally, it was time to load up on the last (different again) bus to get back to Barcelona.  Unfortunately, this was the oldest and jankiest bus that we took, for the longest ride.  The a/c wasn’t working very well, which was rough since we had just spent the last 45 minutes or so outside in the 100+ degree heat, and the seats were the smallest, offering zero legroom to anyone over 5’6” tall.  It was a pretty brutal ride home, and my only complaint about this whole tour and tour company is the constant changing of busses, and the lack of good a/c on the last bus.  

All in all, however, the tour guides were funny and pleasant, and we were able to see a part of the region (and a Caravaggio!) that we wouldn’t have otherwise seen.  The wine stop was nice, but not as interesting or informative as my wine nerd self would have hoped.  I am glad I didn’t book a tour that was only wine tourism as our kids were pretty darn bored with it.  Montserrat is definitely a cool place, though, for history, and amazing views! I would definitely recommend getting out of Barcelona to check out this very strange mountain!