Top 5 Free Things to do in Manresa, Catalonia

Reviewed By McHenryDad - McHenry, United States

The Cave of Saint Ignatius (Cova de Sant Ignasi in Catalan) is a naturally-formed rock overhang in Manresa. Recovering from injuries, Ignatius traveled to Montserrat, a nearby spiritual mountain, to confess his sins then walked 14 miles north to Manresa where he prayed for many days and began to develop a spiritual understanding of the Christian faith which became the foundation of Jesuit teaching. Much of his prayer was in this cave, around which was later built a church building and retreat center. Cami de la Cova 17, the modern-day address, means Walk of the Cave in Catalan. Unlike Ignatius, my goal was to visit the cave with a minimum of walking from the boutique hotel in which my family and I were spending our Barcelona vacation. Some tour companies advertise “custom tours” of Montserrat; they refused to take us to nearby Manresa. Barcelona’s train information is very difficult to access via iPad. Google maps may or may not be useful depending on what software changes they make. I did find an app called Moovit that helped some, but essentially it took several hours of web searches to find out what we needed to plan a visit, so I’m providing it here. Manresa, a small city about 40 miles northwest of Barcelona, has 4 train stations. Three of these, Manresa-Viladordis, Manresa Alta, and Manresa Baixador are on the R5 commuter train line from Barcelona that also stops at Montserrat. The other, Manresa (Renfe), is the final stop on the Rodalies R4 commuter train line from Barcelona. The R4 stops at Placa de Catalunya station in Barcelona, a convenient 10 minute walk from our hotel, and also other stations in Barcelona including Sants and Arc de Triomf. You can transfer from one line to the other at Martorell Central station south of Montserrat. Tickets may be purchased via debit card with PIN (my US Visa card did not work but ATM card did (be sure to tell your bank before your trip)) or cash from a kiosk in the stations. Be sure to hit the symbol of the British flag on the screen to provide instructions in English or you may end up with the wrong type of ticket. It was about $15 (12 Euro) per person one way from Barcelona. The trains are scheduled and run every 30 minutes, a little more often during rush hour before 8:15 am. Board the R4 train heading toward Manresa (Renfe). We boarded the 8:18 R4 departure from Plaza of Catalunya to arrive in Manresa at 9:40. Only a couple of seats were still available when we boarded, but the 4 of us were able to sit together as passengers exited over the first few stops. The R4 train travels underground for 20 minutes as it leaves Barcelona, than primarily at surface after the Torre Baro station except for one city and a couple of mountain tunnels. The first few towns are small suburbs then the train passes through the mountains with spectacular views of old churches, river valleys, and Montserrat’s cliffs, especially from the left side of the train facing forward. The morning sun enters the right side windows enroute. Arriving in Manresa (the last stop) you exit the station to the right side of the train. The Cardener creek runs alongside the rail line. The huge cathedral Basilica Santa Maria De La Seu (not the site of the cave) is a little to the left on top of a hill across the creek. Turn right and walk back toward the direction from which the train arrived, past the parking lot, to the stone medieval bridge (Pont Vell) crossing the creek. Crossing the creek on that same bridge Ignatius used, we saw the large Jesuit center straight ahead on the side of the hill. At the base of the bridge we found a sign pointing us to La Cova. Walk slightly to the left around the building, then uphill to the right. At the far end of the building are a few parking spots and the entrance to the church, which was open only 10am to 1pm on the Thursday we visited. The church is small but ornate, with large statues of saints. To the left is a silent hallway with beautiful medallion carvings, artifacts, and mosaics that leads straight into the “cave.” Pass through an open gate and down a couple of steps into the cave. There are several seats for silently praying and a small altar. There are no tickets and no fees required, but there is a donation box available. In the hallway there is also a visitor book signed by pilgrims from around the world, including many Jesuit college and high school students from the US. There is also a glass door to a small shop with rosaries, photos, and prayer books for sale, in Catalan and Spanish. We purchased a prayer candle for the shrine in the outdoor courtyard beside the cave/behind the shop. The hallway on the right side of the church/shop has a few Ignatius artifacts, including historical photos of the site, his autograph, and one of his shoes. Exiting the church through the same door we entered, we continued walking uphill, past the parking spots, up the alley that makes a U turn around the church then turns back uphill. When you reach the first cross street, turn left for a few yards, then turn right twice, continuing uphill and past the hospital (Clinica Sant Josep). At the next cross street proceed straight ahead, slightly to the left. At the next cross street (Av. De Francesc Macia) you will see the Manresa-Viladordis R5 station to your left, across the small park. It is a half mile walk total from the cave, all up a gradual hill. The other R5 stations are further away from the cave. I did have cellphone coverage in Manresa, but Manresa does not have FreeNow/MyTaxi cabs which had worked well for us in Madrid. We did see a public bus in Manresa. There is an elevator down to the underground train station. We purchased tickets to Montserrat for about 12 euro each, cash, from the kiosk. The R5 train travels a different track than the R4 with similarly impressive views of Montserrat to the right as you travel south back toward the mountain. There are two station options, Montserrat Aeri and Monistrol de Montserrat. The Monistrol de Montserrat station is further north, nearer Manresa, and connects to the rack railway that climbs the steep face of Montserrat to the church and museums on top. We continued on to Montserrat Aeri that connects to the enclosed cable cars that fly over the river to reach the top. My 24 year old son was terrified, but the views are amazing. We arrived at the cable cars at noon. The cable car runs every 12 minutes; we waited in line for about 20 minutes before boarding. We spent the afternoon seeing Montserrat, and had a good buffet lunch (including free beer!), viewed the cathedral including the Mary statue Ignatius venerated, rode the St. Joan funicular to a the top of the mountain, and took many photos. We left at 4:30, descending on the funicular/monistrol/rack rail back to the R5 and transferring to the train that returned us to Placa de España in Barcelona about 6pm. Return tickets cost another 12 Euro. The rack rail runs every 10 minutes, the R5 every half hour. The R5 runs until about 9pm, but the rack rail ends service earlier. Views from the funicular traveling downhill are best from the right side. On the R5 back to Barcelona, windows on the right have a more spectacular view but also the afternoon sun streaming in. Placa de España is also served by Barcelona’s L1 and L3 subways (for an additional ticket) if you need to get elsewhere in the city. We had originally wanted to hike a little at Montserrat, but after a week of walking around European cities our feet said no. To hike Montserrat in the summer you need to arrive very early before July’s 90+ degree heat kicks in; that would have made it impossible to visit Cova de Sant Ignasi between 10am and 1pm visiting hours. Both Manresa and Montserrat had temperatures a little hotter but less humid than Barcelona.