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The Montserrat Tour
Departure: Daily except Sundays, at 3 pm from Pl. Catalunya opposite Tourist Office, in front Deutsche Bank & Hotel Olivia Plaza. All year round except Dec 25 & 26 and Jan 1 & 6
Duration: 4 h aprox.
Guides: Officially-licensed, English-speaking local experts who love their job
Languages: Only in English
Transport: Comfortable air-conditioned bus
Itinerary: Barcelona > Parc Natural de Montserrat > Sanctuary (Monastery, Basilica, Chapel of Our Lady) > Free time > return to Barcelona
Montserrat is a mountain, a unique Natural Park, and a massive rock over 4000 feet high, visible for miles, with weird shapes and rounded peaks that jut into the sky; there are paths, stairs, caves, chapels and hermitages scattered over the mountain, extraordinary landscapes and wonderful views.
Montserrat is a Benedictine monastery nearly 1000 years old, perched half way up the mountain and sheltered by its peaks. There is a basilica with the Chapel of Our Lady of Montserrat known as La Moreneta, the patron saint of Catalonia, and a presence strongly felt and revered. The community of monks also runs a boys´ school devoted to the study of music.
Montserrat is culture: a library of nearly 300,000 volumes; the oldest boys´ choir in Europe; a basilica full of paintings, gold lamps and decorated chapels, a museum with paintings by El Greco, Picasso and Dalí among many others and treasures from ancient Egypt.
Picturesque Drive: along the Llobregat River to the foot of the spectacular Montserrat mountain (its name means serrated, a reference to its jutting peaks), a natural park, and then up to the Sanctuary 725m (2380 feet) above sea level. Your guide will entertain you with tales, history and legends of the mountain, the monastery and the shrine. The return journey will be an alternative route accompanied by recordings of a variety of traditional Catalan music.
Montserrat Monastery: guided orientation tour. On arrival to Montserrat your guide will give a tour to orient you to the main places of interest: monastery, basilica, museum with a marvelous collection of paintings, Stations of the Cross, as well as bars, restaurants, shops and home products market.
Montserrat Basilica: Silence must be kept inside the church so your guide will give you explanations outside and show you Our Lady’s Chapel with the 12th Century figure of Our Lady of Montserrat.
Tour members will have free time to dedicate to the aspects of this beautiful and spiritual place that attract them most.
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