Life’s an ocean with too much commotion

After four days of walking a lot, my feet and legs were really tired. Nevertheless, this was the only day I could visit the Monestir of Montserrat. My girlfriend would go lunching with her colleagues so I had the whole day for myself (okay, this sounds like she really gives the shots, maybe it’s a partially true ).
First I went to the bakery and ate some breakfast, then I headed for Placa Espanya. Train R5 (FGC train to Manresa) heads in the direction of Montserrat.

If you want to take the Cremallera de Montserrat – a rack railway train – up to Montserrat, you should get off at Monestir station. Otherwise, using the cable car you should get off at Aeri de Montserrat station.
For both transport ways, you can buy a combination ticket at Placa Espanya. I don’t know what the combination ticket for line R5 + cable car costs. A combination retour ticket using the cremallera costs 14,90 euros. The trip to Montserrat itself takes about 70 minutes.

You shouldn’t plan a day trip to Montserrat if you’re not very religious or hoping on some healing miracle. The only thing you can visit there is the Black Madonna, the cathedral and maybe the museum. I stood for one hour in a queue for touching the Black Madonna, took some pictures in the cathedral and bought two candles. Some trails are starting at Montserrat that go across the mountains, which gives you hours and hours of real walking pleasure. I didn’t have the time because I needed to get back to Barcelona.

In the evening we went to a Tapas bar, Taller de Tapas (Plaza Sant Joseph Oriol 9, near Plaza del Pi). For about 30 euros you can chose five different kinds of tapas (calamares, croquettes, mussels, …). It was delicious and more than enough for two people!