My ladyfriend and I went to Montserrat on our way back to Madrid from Barcelona during Semana Santa 1999 (read all about it on my MadridMan's Spain 1999 Trip , journal entry 3/30/99). WOW! ALL that has been said above is true. There's nothing but flat land and then BOOM(!), up come these tall, flat-ish spikes out of the ground! We were driving and drove to the top on a gloriously sunny day, parked, then walked the last 300 meters to the monastary itself. What a place! I was a little sad to learn that the monks hadn't actively inhabited the place for a few years, but we still enjoyed the history of it all, also climbed the staircase with a file of about 200 others to see the black virgin mary and baby totally conceiled in clear plexiglass and only the outermost curve of the ball stuck through a small cutout of the plexiglass for one to touch.

The drive to/from Barcelona is especially nice too! The closer you get to Madrid the more old/ruined castles there are! I think I counted something amazing like 18 castles/fortified structures.

Saludos, MadridMan