Day 6 Monday 8th April 2013

Today we split into two groups to go on a trip with either Denis or Liam. My group went with Denis to visit Montserrat. We got on the metro on La rambla and got off at Espanya where we got the train to the cable cars which brought us up the mountain of Montserrat. It was also possible to drive up the mountain as there were roads designed specifically for this. The cable car trip was enjoyable as I don’t mind heights and the views were amazing. When we got off I realised it was like a village on the side of the mountain, there was restaurants, gift shops, a hotel, a church and a boarding school. The centre of Barcelona can be seen from the Montserrat mountain as can many other beautiful sites from such a height.

 Montserrat is a Benedictine monk retreat. Many people visit Montserrat alone to see the patron saint of Catalonia, The Black Madonna. Montserrat is very important to the Catalonian people because when Franco ruled and banned people from speaking Catalan, this monastery continued to speak and pray through Catalan and Franco knew there was not much he could do about it.  There were hermit monks who lived here. We visited the Basilica church and joined the line to see and touch the Black Madonna. We each got to say a prayer in front of the patron saint of Catalonia

View from cable car

The Black Madonna

Candals we light outside the Basilica church