Less than an hour’s drive, the monastery retreat to mountaintop Montserrat is perhaps the most popular day trip from Barcelona. With all the options of transportation (train, cable car, funicular, private car hire, and bus tours) it’s no wonder that this excursion is a touristy one. To the Catalonians and Catholic pilgrims the monastery is a significant site, and to the tourists like me the monastery’s setting of rock formations is a day trip of scenic hiking. In order to experience Montserrat in peace, we opted out of the cable car and funicular. We could have driven up to the…