Barcelona Day Four: Montserrat, Breathtaking Hikes, and Wading in the Mediterranean

This day was simply glorious, even if it didn’t have the most auspicious of starts. (And maybe we shouldn’t pick favourites, but this was definitely my favourite.)

After a somewhat tiring Day Three, I was determined to “go with the flow” on Day Four. Though we had a plan, nothing was concretely scheduled…so when we woke up naturally at 7:30 am, I took my time showering and getting dressed. No one rushed through breakfast and we made our way to the Metro to get to the central station (Plaça d’Espanya) to buy tickets for our only day trip outside the city: Montserrat.

My “go with the flow” attitude meant we weren’t rushing (as I would usually be prone to do), so we missed the once-an-hour train by about two minutes. I was kicking myself and knowing we now had an hour to twiddle our thumbs in the train station.

And it was amazing.

John and I got coffee, we split a few plain churros as a family; the kids played games on our phones, we sorted through pictures from the trip and just…chilled and watched the Spanish world whiz by as people went about their morning commute. The caffeine probably didn’t hurt matters, either.

The train ride to Montserrat was beautiful and it was yet another sunny day. (Our weather was spectacular the whole week!)

We arrived at the base of the mountain around 12:00 pm, and made our way quickly* to the cable car (Aeri de Montserrat). There are two ways to get to the top via public transport and we opted for the cable car. It was quick, efficient, and to be avoided at all costs if you’re afraid of heights. Thankfully we all loved the ride up (and down the mountain).

*The entrance to the cable car is only a few minutes walk from the Metro which means everyone is getting off at the same time and…everyone is headed to the cable car. Each cable car can hold about 25 people and the round trip takes 15 minutes. If we hadn’t been efficient getting off the train to the cable car lineup we could have waited an hour or more. So…if you’re not keen to wait in line, I’d aim to be efficient getting from the Metro to the cable car station to beat the rush.

We also took a particular shining to these little steps at the top of the cable car ride! The kids were in especially happy moods and posed for all sorts of sibling pictures.

The one thing (ONE THING) I wanted to do at Montserrat was see the boys choir (Escolania de Montserrat) sing at 1 pm which the interwebs told me was free. In my laid-back approach to the day, I worried we wouldn’t make it for the 1 pm start time. So I was delighted to be in Montserrat by noon…only to discover that my information was outdated – you have to buy tickets to see the choir and they were all sold out. Since we didn’t have tickets to the choir, we couldn’t access the basilica at that point either (the boys sing in the church – for a period before, during, and after their performance, entrance is limited to those with tickets). In the end, we didn’t see ANY of the key highlights of Montserrat – we didn’t feel like paying to see the inside of the basilica or the Black Madonna, and we couldn’t get tickets to the boys choir. Again, a bit of panic reared its head in my planner/perfectionist brain. We knew we wanted to do some of the hikes, but didn’t really feel like shelling out a ton of money to take extra trams up the mountain (the monastery – built in 1025 – isn’t all the way to the summit).

We opted to do a hiking trail that starts at the monastery and winds down to Santa Cova – a small chapel built into the side of the mountain over top of the cave where shepherds claim to have found the Black Madonna in the 880s. This was perfect and without a doubt the absolute highlight of the trip for me. We had packed a picnic of sandwiches, carrot sticks, and granola bars from a grocery store near the hotel and the kids were enthusiastic and in their element. We are walkers and this was a really fun walk. All along the hike were art installations marking the different stations of the cross. The path was mostly deserted and gave incredible views of the monastery and cable car. It was just a really lovely, simple, memorable time together. Over lunchtime, A Facetimed with her bestie which was also special – the views were a pretty unique backdrop. John likened it to his recent visit to the Grand Canyon.

I will admit that walking back UP the mountain was not quite as fun, but it was all part of the adventure. My Apple Watch tells me we climbed 75 flights this day and I believe it.

We wandered the grounds of the monastery for a bit longer and then headed to Barcelona. This time the train was packed to the gills – standing room only.

For supper we opted to go back to El Corte Inglés and had delicious paella and sushi. The views weren’t too shabby either.

We followed this up with churros at Xurreria Trebol (our favourite churro shop in Barcelona) and a trek down to the waterfront. The kids ended up conning us into €5 kicks in an attempt to win a soccer scarf that was probably worth €1. Neither was successful at scoring, but they LOVED doing this so it was worth the splurge for the memory.

We never did have a dedicated beach day. The weather was lovely, but it wasn’t really beach weather yet, so we decided to go at night and it was magical. It was also the perfect way to see the iconic “sail” hotel – W Barcelona. The water was freezing, but the kids were just excited to be in the Mediterranean. They’re also much more cold-tolerant than I am. We all dipped our toes in and after a nice stretch of time frolicking in the water (did I mention it was freezing; my feet were numb and throbbing), we capped the evening off with DELICIOUS gelato before heading back to our hotel.

Distance Walked: 16.89 km | 23,179 steps | 75 flights!!!

That’s a wrap on Day Four. Would you rather walk up a hill…or down a hill? Favourite gelato flavour? Do you dislike swimming in cold water (if it’s not bathtub temperature, I classify all bodies of water freezing)?