Monserrate

Photo of the church of Monserrate.

If you're in Bogota you can not really ignore it. From every corner where you go, you see it lie: Monserrate, a mountain of almost 3152 meter. Monserrate is an important symbol of Bogota. Not in ecological respects, but in religious terms. The name is derived from the Montserrat mountain near Barcelona in Spain.

History

Mr. Juan de Borja former governor of Colombia gave in 1640 the order to build a church on the mountain. The church was built in honor of Montserrat's Virgin Morena whose shrine was located in Barcelona. In 1657, there is also a monastery completed. In the monastery there is the painting  of "The fallen lord". It is the work of local artists Pedro de Lugo and Albarracín. Since that day of the opening thousands of people went to Montserrat.

Come up on the mountain

You can go up in different ways. There is a cable car, a train, but you can also just walk. The cable car was built in 1953 and consists of 2 cars with a capacity of 40 persons per car. The cable car ride takes about 4 minutes. The train was ready a bit earlier. The train is already at the mountain since 1928. With a speed of 3.2 meters per second it takes about 5 minutes to reach the top. In December 2003, it is possible, the arrival of the new train with a glass roof, nothing of nature to be missed during the ride up.

Cost of coming up the mountain

Train	Cable Car	Cost
Monday to Friday from 07:45 - 12:00	Monday to Friday from 12:00 tot 24:00*	14.000 pesos
Saturday from 07:45 - 15:00	Saturday from 15:00 tot 24:00*	14.000 pesos
Sunday from 05:30 - 18:00	Sunday from 09:00 tot 17:00	8.000 pesos
Holidays from 05:30 - 18:00		14.000 pesos

* After 17:30, the ticket cost 17.000 pesos.

Eat and drink

On top of Monserrate are 2 restaurants. San Isdro house is open from Monday to Saturday from 12:00 to 24:00. The Santa Clara House is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12:00 to 17:00 and on Sunday from 09:00 to 17:00.