Montserrat

    The winding mountain road almost made me wonder if the journey was worth it, but when we finally arrived I knew it was. Montserrat is a mountain that where you will find the Santa Maria de Monserrat monastary. This monastery is the most important Catalonian religious site. People from Barcelona and all over Catalonia frequently make overnight hikes to visit the monastery and watch the sunset.

    One of the most notable aspects is that the monastery houses the virgin of Montserrat. It is one of the black madonnas of Europe that was believed to have been carved in Jerusalem in the early days of the church. Despite this belief it is more likely to be a wooden Romanesque sculpture from the late 12th century. The legend that follows this particular black madonna is that the Benedictine Monks whom reside at the monastery could not move the statue so they choose to build around it instead.