A day trip to Montserrat and Sitjes

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We had to get going about an hour earlier this morning to make sure that we were at the bus stop in time to purchase our tour to Montserrat. We arrived at the bus stop at about 9.10am and the bus selling the tickets for tours to Montserrat and Barcelona arrived at about 9.20am. After we bought our tickets there was a considerable amount of radioing and telephoning as the Plana staff worked out how many people they had going on tours today.

Eventually there were three busses for Montserrat, but it was an absolute shemozzle getting everyone boarded. The staff were just calling out Montserrat, Montserrat and everyone was milling about between the three busses. It was only when we ended up almost boarding the Russian bus that it became obvious that there was a tour to Montserrat in English, a tour to Montserrat in French and a tour to Montserrat in Russian. So we were redirected to the bus with the guide that would be providing commentary for the tour in Spanish and English. Mind you she found she had some French speaking passengers, but they refused to move to the French bus!!

We are so glad that we ended up with the tour guide who was commentating in English?????! As it turned out the busses PA was so useless that the Spanish and the English commentaries were equally unintelligible!!! To be honest, we both slept through most of the commentary anyway, but what we did hear we couldn’t understand.

As per usual with this sort of tour there were great views of Montserrat from some distance away, but there was no stopping for any photo opportunities!! When we arrived at the base of the mountain we were taken to the funicular station to catch our ride up the mountain. Just as we boarded I had a sneeze which caused a blood nose. It was very embarrassing dabbing away at a bleeding nose while we waited for the funicular to depart!!

After a spectacular ascent we disembarked and that was when the guide told us that the Benedictine monastery is closed on Fridays!!!!!!! Hmmmn, the brochure says that the Tuesday tour spends all day on the mountain whereas the Friday tour combines the trip to Montserrat with a trip to Stijes, a typical Catalonion old fishing town. What it’s not actually telling you in the brochure is that you only spend half a day at Montserrat on Fridays because there is only half as much to do!!

Ah well, you live and learn! We spent some time at the Basilica which is a rather austere looking building. We watched with some amusement as tourists queued to take a spot in the middle of the courtyard and be photographed with their arms stretched towards the sky (Heaven? God?). We watched one girl go through the ritual at least three times. We can only assume that she was finally happy with the photo after several attempts to get it right???



Bernie then insisted that we should queue to visit the Black Madonna because that’s one of the religious artifacts that you visit Montserrat to see. So we queued up and shuffled through all the side altars of the Basilica until we finally reached the Black Madonna. Despite signs saying no photos or video, Bernie snapped away like mad. His excuse - everyone else was doing it!! At least he was doing with without a flash which is less blatant. I could not believe how many tourists were snapping away with their flashes blazing and, in many instances, with red-eye reduction on so that they were actually double flashing!! I’m not all that religious, but I do respect other people’s right to practice their religion with a minimum of disruption from tourists! Bernie even had the audacity to stand in the Black Madonna’s alcove and take a photo back down the knave - while the Children’s Choir was singing!! How embarrassing!!!

Silence was also requested which resulted in most conversation being reduced to a dull murmur. What was rather funny, though, was the family behind us whose child had a plush dolphin - that made dolphin sounds when squeezed. It was being squeezed pretty often to start with, but then the dolphin calls stopped. I’m not sure if the toy may have been removed from the child???

After concluding our visit to the Black Madonna we caught the smaller, steeper funicular further up the mountain. If you visit when the monastery is not closed it is a 40 minute walk from the top of the funicular to the monastery. With our allotted time at Montserrat running out we only had time to take a few photos and then take the funicular back down.

So, at 2.30pm we came all the way back down the mountain and re-boarded the bus for our trip to Sitjes. Well, I dare say that once upon a time Sitjes was indeed a typical Catalonian old fishing town! Nowadays, however, it is just another resort town on the Costa Dorada!! When we read ‘fishing town’ in the brochure we thought it would be something like the fishing village we visited in Malta two years ago. Ha, we were seriously misguided and very disappointed as there was not a fishing boat anywhere to be seen!!

To top it all off we stopped at a street café for drinks where I was given a bottle of unrefrigerated water and a very dirty glass. I elected not to use the glass and Bernie hoped that his beer glass had been washed more thoroughly than my glass had been!! Never mind, alcohol kills germs?!!? The saving grace was watching a couple of Golden Retrievers at a shop a couple of doors away from the café. It appears that they go to work with their dad every day judging by how comfortable they both looked laying in the doorway/on the footpath in front of the shop!!

Before these tours I am always filled with excitement about what fabulous things we will see and experience. Afterwards I always feel frustrated about how limited the experience has been due to the constraints of the tour’s itinerary!!! As always, I guess it is preferable to have seen Montserrat in these circumstances rather than not see it at all??

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