Montserrat, the monastery in the saw-toothed mountain

The mountain is the first surprise. Driving inland from Barcelona, across the ordinary farmland of the Llobregat valley, you see it long before you reach it: a great massif of grey-pink rock rising abruptly from the plain, its top broken into hundreds of rounded pinnacles, like a row of giant fingers or the teeth of a saw. Its name, Montserrat, means just that, the serrated mountain, and the Catalans have treated it as a sacred place for a thousand years.

The rock is a conglomerate, pebbles and stones cemented together in an ancient river delta, and wind and rain have worn it into these strange shapes. Halfway up, on a ledge where the cliffs give a little room, stands the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, a cluster of large stone buildings with the pinnacles towering behind and the plain falling away in front.

The monastery and the Moreneta

The abbey was founded in 1025, and for most of the following centuries it was a great pilgrimage place. In 1811 Napoleon's troops sacked it, and most of what you see was rebuilt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is still a working monastery, home to a community of monks.

Its heart is the Moreneta, the little dark one: a Romanesque wooden statue of the Virgin and Child, darkened over the centuries, which sits high above the altar of the basilica. She is the patron saint of Catalonia, and pilgrims queue up a staircase behind the altar to reach her, touch the orb in her hand and say a prayer. The queue can be long, and the moment brief, but for many Catalans it is a visit of real meaning.

Montserrat has long been bound up with Catalan identity, too. Under Franco, when the Catalan language was suppressed in public life, the monastery kept it alive in its services and publications, and it remains a symbol of Catalonia to many people today.

Below the monastery, a path cut along the cliff leads to the Santa Cova, the holy cave where, according to legend, shepherds found the image of the Virgin in the ninth century; a small chapel now stands at the spot. The way to it is lined with monuments to the mysteries of the Rosary, made by Catalan architects and sculptors of the early twentieth century, Antoni Gaudí among them.

The choir and the heights

The monastery's other treasure is the Escolania, its boys' choir, which has existed since at least the fourteenth century and is among the oldest in Europe. The boys live and study at the monastery, and on most days they sing in the basilica, usually around the middle of the day; their short performance, of the Virolai, the hymn to the Virgin of Montserrat, and other pieces, is something many visitors plan their day around. The timetable changes, and the choir does not sing in the school holidays, so check before you go.

Above the monastery, the mountain is a natural park, crossed by footpaths between the pinnacles. A funicular climbs from the monastery towards the paths, and the walk to Sant Jeroni, the summit at a little over 1,200 metres, gives views on a clear day across Catalonia to the Pyrenees. There are old hermitages hidden among the rocks, too, from the centuries when hermits lived on the mountain.

Getting up is part of the fun. A rack railway climbs from the valley to the monastery, and a cable car swings up the cliff face in a few minutes; the road switchbacks up as well, for coaches and cars.

Holidays that go there

Just You's seven-night Timeless Costa Brava, for solo travellers, combines Montserrat with Barcelona, Girona, the medieval town of Besalú and the Costa Brava resorts of Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, Palafrugell, Llafranc and Tamariu.

Just You's ten-night Christmas and New Year on the Costa Brava spends the festive season in the same country, with Lloret de Mar, Montserrat, Barcelona, Girona, Besalú, Tossa de Mar and Figueres, the town of the Dalí museum.

Explore's seven-night A Taste of Northern Spain: Catalonia and the Basque Country has Montserrat among its places, with Bilbao, Getaria, San Sebastian, Laguardia, Puente La Reina, Pamplona, Zaragoza and Agramunt. It departs in May, June, September and October.

Go early, before the coaches from Barcelona, and stay for the choir if it is singing. Then climb above the monastery for an hour. The crowds stay below; the mountain is above.