This was the final part of the puzzle that our travels this year had become. When we were on my birthday cruise last year, we had booked a four-night cruise on Allure of the Seas out of Barcelona for April. Before we booked this, I had made sure that this did not clash with Easter. It was two weeks before Easter and I figured that would work. Unfortunately, when I went back to work, it turned out that I could not get the leave I needed. The local schools had their Easter holidays starting two weeks before Easter. I really had my heart set on this ship, but I could not figure out how I could fit it in. Of course, once we reorganized our travel plans, this opened up a slot in September. This meant that we would get seven nights on the ship rather than four.
The way my shifts panned out in the week that was best value for the cruise, this gave us a 10-night trip. When looking at possible hotels for the three nights before the cruise, I realised that you can actually stay in Montserrat. Montserrat is one of my happy places and I was absolutely thrilled with this discovery. Better still, it was really good value. Admittedly, it is nothing fancy. Essentially the accommodation we booked is a better type of youth hostel with private en-suite rooms. However, we are not going there for luxury, but for the location. The location cannot be beaten.
I had picked a flight that got us to Barcelona late morning. Graham had worked out a route to get to Montserrat without having to go into the centre of Barcelona first. It was still quite an undertaking involving the metro, a train and finally the rack railway up the mountain. This meant that providing everything went according to plan, we would get to Montserrat around the time we could check in.
Even though we had been there before three times previously, there was still plenty on my to do list. Some things I do on every visit like visiting the church, the black Madonna, and the path of Ave Maria. A newer tradition is to take the funicular further up the mountain for a bird’s eye view over the monastery. There are hiking paths for just about every ability in this area. I loved the idea of the hiking path to the highest point of the mountain, but figured my knee would probably not share that enthusiasm. Still, I figured we would find something suitable. However, with about two weeks to go before the trip, I did some more research. The trail to St. Jeroni is classified as easy to moderate. What gives it the easy to moderate rating rather than just easy is a flight of concrete stairs with a railing to lead up to the final viewpoint. I had seen photos including some of the stairs and figured that this was doable. The view from the top looked truly spectacular and the total length of the hike is about 5 miles. I figured even if I would chicken out on the stairs, there are plenty of viewpoints and points of interest along the trail to make it worth our while. I did however make the commitment that if we did make it to St. Jeroni, I would buy the biggest candle they had and light it on the path of Ave Maria as a way of giving thanks. You would have to follow along to find out if we ever made it.
There are two further trails that I really wanted to do. One is a trail down to Santa Cova, which is the holy cave. Tradition states that back in 880, two young shepherds found a statue of the virgin Mary in a cave halfway up the mountain of Montserrat. They were alerted to its presence by a bright light and a beautiful melody. This happened every week over a number of weeks. Eventually they decided to alert a local priest, who in turn alerted his bishop. The plan had been to take the statue to Manresa but when a procession tried to move the Virgin down the mountain to Manresa, it became too heavy to carry. It was then decided that the statue should remain at Montserrat. The original statue of course is now further up the mountain in the basilica. However, there is a chapel that incorporates the cave and there is also a replica of the statue. There is also a sculpture trail representing the stations of the cross in this area which is kind of a who is who of Catalan modernist artists including one statue by Antoni Gaudi. Graham has been there in November while I went up the mountain. The first stretch is pretty steep, but the good thing is that there is a funicular that goes part of the way to Santa Cova and covers the steep bit. We figured that we would definitely take the funicular down as I have always struggled with going down steep hills and we would reserve judgement on whether we would walk all the way up to the monastery or if we would take the funicular back up. We also figured that this would be a nice thing to do as soon as we had checked in at our accommodation if the weather cooperated.
The final trail that we were planning on doing is a very short trail to St. Michael’s cross, which also doubles as a viewpoint. I had read that this is the best place to see a sunset at Montserrat. We figured that if the weather cooperated, this would be a nice thing to do the first evening. We were planning on picking up some odds and ends at the farmers’ market that they have near the restaurant complex and have a picnic that day and therefore we were not on any timetable. I was also planning to get a bottle of the nice sparkling wine that they produce on Montserrat. We figured weather permitting, it would be nice to have a picnic under the stars. However, if the weather did not play ball or it was simply too chilly, our accommodation had a communal kitchen.
At one stage, I was wondering if we would find enough to do. However, once we started planning, it soon became apparent that it was impossible to do everything I would love to do. They have an amazing boys’ choir called Escolania. The sing at the lunchtime prayer Mondays through to Fridays and at the evening prayer Sundays through Thursdays. I had heard them during our very first visit to Montserrat. At that time, only the youngest boys were present as the older boys were on a choir tour. The sound was still amazing. I had originally planned to go to the evening prayer on the Thursday and the lunchtime prayer on the Friday. However, once we started planning to watch the sunset from St. Michael‘s cross on Thursday and heading up to St. Jeroni on Friday, it became apparent that I may not see either. Still, I figured I would see how this pans out.
Things were not getting any easier when I noticed something that I was not aware of previously. They have a video mapping show in the basilica every afternoon. I wondered how I missed this on previous visits. It turned out I did not. This was something new that was only added a little over a month before our visit to celebrate the millennium of the monastery. I had no idea that there had been a monastery on Montserrat for 1000 years. It is definitely a special year to visit.
At some stage Graham mentioned that he was interested in the Montserrat museum. I had checked out the core art collection in 2023, but there are also an archaeological collection and an iconographic collection in this building that would be worth checking out. Initially, I thought we would leave Montserrat in the morning, head to our hotel to check in and then I figured I would head into Barcelona to see Sagrada Familia. However, the admission prices for this have gone crazy. By the time I got around to checking this, the tickets for the Saturday were also sold out. We figured that as we had nowhere else to be, we may as well spend most of Saturday at Montserrat. That would give us plenty of time to check out the museum.
Prior to this trip, every time we cruised out of Barcelona, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at Molins de Rei. Molins de Rei is a small town about 10 miles out of central Barcelona with frequent direct trains. Molins de Rei is where we would spend the last night before our cruise again. However, this time we were staying at an independent hotel right by the station. This made getting there nice and easy. We did a day trip from Molins de Rei to Montserrat in 2023, and I therefore know how to get there. On past visits, we had some real tapas at a neighbourhood bar. We figured that we may well end for dinner there again.
We had planned on a nice relaxing cruise. The ship was always meant to be the main destination. Initially we were only planning to get off at Naples, which was the last port. I had booked a tour to Underground Naples for Graham. I had put together a walking tour for myself with the help of AI taking in various churches and also incorporation a pizza lunch and some gelato. However, with two weeks left to go, we revisited something we had been thinking about for a number of the years. The Ficoncella Thermal Baths in the hills above Civitavecchia are going back to Roman times and are still very much in use. We had planned to go there in June 2023, but it was way too hot. We figured we would decide on the day depending on the temperature on the day.
For the rest of the cruise, we were just going to enjoy what the ship had on offer. I got a really good deal for an unlimited specialty dining package, and I was definitely looking forward to sampling both old favourites and new to us restaurants. For once I was also really looking forward to the shows. Allure has an ice show and an aqua show that came highly recommended. There is also a show called Blue Planet that I was curious about. However, the main attraction and a big incentive to cruise on this ship was the full Broadway musical Mamma Mia.
I was scarily organised on this trip. By the time online check in was due, I had decided on what outfits and jewellery to take. My embarkation t-shirts had arrived, and my magnet had been ready since the last cruise. I also had purchased the photo package and made all the reservations I could make. I suppose a trip is not a trip with something going to the wire. I decided that rather than taking a pair of Crocs and a pair of sandals, it would be better if I had a pair of waterproof sandals. I figured that I would get those locally as Birkenstocks now does a waterproof version. In the past, Birkenstocks had always been a safe bet. However, on this occasion, they did not fit. I did find something similar online, but they came from Australia. Still, with a month left to go, I figured this was safe enough. What I did not bargain for is that they would be held hostage in a warehouse near London for over a week. Still, in the end they arrived in time and with three days left to go, I was pretty much packed.
I know some of my friends will recognise the title or at least wonder about it. They would be right. This is the opening line of one of my favourite worship songs. It just seemed fitting for a trip that was not only relaxing and a lot of fun, but part of it was also a deeply spiritual experience. I wanted this aspect to be reflected in the title.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
Leave a comment