I highly recommend spending the night at Montserrat. After the hordes of tourists have departed, it's a totally different place. Silent, eerie.

Carole Chiaro, please tell us more!! How/Where does one spend the night? I assumed they shut the place down at 8pm and then it was off limits. No??

It was a VERY long time ago (1977) that we visited Montserrat. However, I still have a copy of our itinerary and notes (we're talking pre-computer days) from that month long drive through Spain and Portugal. (Even I can hardly believe that I still have that stuff!) We stayed at...Hostal Abad Cisneros where a double room with breakfast, dinner and drinks cost us 2348 pesetas (at 82.8 pesetas to the dollar, it was a steal even then). I haven't checked on-line to see whether this particular hostal is still in business but I do have a copy of Rick Steves' book which recommends staying overnight in the old monks' quarters (twin--7580 ptas, fine restaurant attached). It was such a wonderful experience.

Carole Chiaro, it seems that Hostal Abad Cisneros DOES still exist, but has doubled in price, now at 5000pts. You can read details about Monterrat (in Spanish) in El-Mundo article.

Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan--I am really enjoying your website which I just recently discovered while planning our trip to Spain. The Message Board is a great resource. Thanks!

The folowing is part of a Friday 13, April 2001 article by Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid for U.K.'s Telegraph :

Montserrat Black Virgin 'was white originally'

AMID Spain's Holy Week ceremonies, it was reported yesterday that the Black Virgin of Montserrat, one of the nation's most revered religious icons and the foremost symbol of Catalan nationalism, was originally white.
Renovators working for the government said the black hands and face of La Moreneta, a statue of the Virgin Mary in the monastery of Montserrat, 30 miles north of Barcelona, underwent a change in colour. The colour of the 12th century wooden sculpture, according to the renovators, was transformed either due to prolonged exposure to candle smoke or a chemical reaction caused by a varnish used as a paint sealant. READ MORE...

[ 04-18-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Yeah, that's the big secret. Shh.