El Escorial

On Saturday I decided it was time for a mini travel adventure.  El Real Sitio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial was the perfect day trip out of Madrid.  It taught me how to navigate the bus system a little bit, and was just a short ride up into the suburbs of Madrid.  

The town reminded me of a small Swiss mountain town, surrounded by pretty hills, with crisper weather than in the city, small narrow cobblestone streets, and a view of Madrid.  

However, El Escorial is really why people come to visit this cute little town.  El Escorial is a monastery, palace, church, tomb, school...you name it.  It was built in the 16th century by Felipe II, who actually died in the palace (on the tour, you see Felipe's bed in the same exact spot as when he died) and he is also buried in the tomb that exists in the basement of the palace. Surprisingly, this massive structure, which seems to go on forever, only took 20 years to build, and there is an exhibit on the tour that shows you some of the original drawings, plans, and tools used to build this behemoth of a building. There was also an awesome library, with several collections of really old books, a church that still is used for religious services, beautifully groomed gardens, and numerous art pieces. If I were Felipe, I would be proud to say I have a personal library, church, cemetery (a little creepy), and gardens all in my giant house just a hop skip and a jump away from the congestion and smelliness of the city.

One of the coolest rooms we saw was the "Sala de las Batallas" which is basically and empty long room that has paintings on the walls depicting different Spanish wars.  The paintings are actually 3D, and change position when you view it from either side. Definitely more impressive than watching a movie with silly glasses on and having things pop out at you.  Sorry Hollywood, but painting in 3D is a little more impressive...

The Pantheon was also really cool, which houses a tomb filled with several dead Spanish kings and queens (well, only queens who bore kings have the honor of burial in the pantheon) and there is also a tomb for the royal children.  There were a lot of little kiddies with little tombs, so sad. Also, it was cool to see all the different crests and different areas that all the royals came from, and how intermarried they really were.

I also managed to pass out on the bus ride back, just goes to show how my napping skills have greatly improved since coming to this country...