Ashley really wanted to take a day trip from Barcelona so we found a half-day Montserrat Wine and Tapas tour through Viator and CastleExperience. We started out at the bus depot which took us out to the monastery at Montserrat. Montserrat means “serrated mountain” and the mountain is a bit of a long pointy ridge. Some say it looks like the back of a dragon. The monastery is located high up on the mountain. It was founded in the 11th century and rebuilt between the 19th and 20th centuries. There are around 70-80 Benedictine monks at the abbey and have been around this number for some time.
The basilica is home to the Black Madonna. There are some interesting legends surrounding the Black Madonna and the founding of the abbey. The Madonna sits up on the wall behind the altar. It can be accessed (with purchase of appropriate tickets) via stairs on the side of the church. While we wanted to see it up close, we didn’t have enough time to get in line because of the tour timeline.
There are also two facades to the front of the bascilica. The original facade was turned into a courtyard with the addition of another facade built by the dictator Francisco Franco.
There is also a funicular which is a train that takes you to the top of the mountain. We didn’t have enough time to go up but it was pretty impressive to see how far up the mountain it goes.
After the monastery, we got back in the bus and headed to a local Catalonian winery, Oller del Mas. This winery has been in business since 964 AD. Originally, the owners were potters and eventually expanded to wine and left the potting behind. Their house was upgraded to a castle once they earned titles. The winery is still owned by the same family. Additionally, the winery owns a significant portion of land in the Montserrat region. At the castle, we had tapas for lunch in a wine cellar and tasted several wines. The tapas were delicious and so were the wines. Our tour guide, Anays, was very knowledgable of the wines and offered a great tasting experience. Afterward, we went to a courtyard to buy a glass of wine before getting back on the bus and heading back to Barcelona.
Check out my personal post for some more photos.
