Un Lloc Sagrat...translation: "A Sacred Place" in Catalan

Montserrat is the heart of Catalunya in a lot of ways. Every year people come from all around flock to explore her tranquility and the somewhat eerie feeling (especially when, as commonly happens, the clouds roll in) that envelopes you while you are a guest upon her rocks.

Montserrat is perhaps best known for the Benedictine Abbey and is thought by some to be one of the possible locations ("llocs") of the Holy Grail. Columbus even named the island in the Caribbean after this Catalan landmark. Historically, it has much significance too. Napoleon's troops marched over this mountain to attack Catalonia and it was a hiding place for many conscientious objectors in the Spanish civil war. Nowadays, people line up for hours just to touch the orb held by the baby Jesus of the Virgin of Montserrat. In the long held catholic tradition, Montserrat is indeed a sacred place.

But non-dogmatically too, it is sacred. Geologically, Montserrat is composed of distinct pink conglomerate rock with clasts (inclusions) near boulder size, indicating the immense flow energy involved in its formation. Montserrat is relatively young, geologically speaking. Only a few million years. It was formed as a large river delta. After tectonic uplift, and subsequent shaping by erosive forces, it took on the shape that has been known throughout human history. The name refers to its shape, in fact - as in "Mount Serrated" because of the jagged look its various peaks portray.


It is a natural park and everyone who visits Montserrat pays her respect. Surrounded by so much human history and settlements Montserrat is a quiet place to escape the human zoo that is the city... and reflect. It is awash with many forms of life such as goats, bats, lizards and other small mammals. For them it is sacred too.
And, there are caves. Plenty of them. Les Coves de Salnitre (The Salnitre Caves) are a well visited attraction. These caves are massive inside and you can get a guided tour of the mountain from inside out. The cave is so grand when you first enter that there are commonly held musical events, owing to the wonderful natural acoustics. Peaceful tranquility, complete with a few bats flying overhead, seemingly dancing to the rhythm.

But, every year a pilgrimage sets forth from surrounding villages to Montserrat and this year was no exception. Old and young, we departed home at 4 am, groggy from lack of sleep and weary of the long 6 hour walk ahead. We traveled over many a hill and dried out river valley, newly sprouting vineyard and urbanization... still pitch dark. With head lamps and flashlights we searched for the slowly brightening horizon. We passed a land fill sight and noted the distinct smell of garbage and reflected on our over-consumption lifestyles. Still before light, we climbed a steep hill through a village and awoke what must have been 20 various types of dogs, all aggressively barking at us to leave their territory, tout de suite.

At the top of the village, we breakfasted. The time was now about 6am and the hardest part of the journey was yet to come. After fueling up, we began the considerable downhill to the base of the mountain. We started the steep climb to the Monastery on the other side of the mountain. Finally, we felt 'out in nature' and the surroundings became more peaceful and natural, the sunrise casting its light in rarely seen ways.

At the base of Montserrat, the jagged rocks began and, now still only 7am, the sun rising brightly on the other side of the mountain, lighting up the Collserola at the back of Barcelona in the far distance. It was a beautiful sight, no doubt. We continued to hike into the changing weather conditions until reaching the local summit, turned around the edge and felt a sense of accomplishment upon finally walking out of the shadow of this enormous, incredible pile of million year old rocks. The sun in our eyes gave us our "second wind" and we began the long trail down to the Monastery. At our destination, the street was crowded with tourists as usual, but this time more because it was the Saint day of Montserrat. We had a glorious café and took the train down the other side and back home.

So what was the moral of this pilgrimage... this nature walk? We were not sure at the start, I think. But, at the end, it's the feeling of scaling the heights and no matter if you fall just short of fame, you have got to known the planet just a little more. Nature hikes, no matter if on a mountain, or in your backyard, make the planet more visceral to you, more tangible. We don't do this enough. We often say we should stop and smell the roses, but all to often the roses are in a vase in an over-crowded office cubicle. We spend most of our lives in this high-tech world not thinking that we are actually part of the planet, just passengers on a giant blue, white and green spaceship.

So, what did I learn? What is nature? That's what I learned. "What is Nature?" I didn't learn what nature IS, for that, I have much more exploring to do. But the question has at least been posed. And that is all that really matters...

Peace,
Grant