El Escorial: the end of day trips

Jambo!  I know that greeting doesn’t really fit with my adventures in Spain, but I recently read (courtesy of Maggie) that Tanzania is on Lonely Planet’s List of Top 10 Countries to Visit in 2011, so I think Swahili is appropriate in honor of that.  :)

My day trips came to a close today with the last one to El Escorial.  Going into the trip, I didn’t really know anything about El Escorial, but I learned a lot.  Here is some background info: the town of El Escorial is about 45 minutes northwest of Madrid, and is up in the mountains a bit.  It is home to El Real Monasterio de El Escorial (The Royal Monastery of the Escorial), which is a giant building serving as a historical palace of the monarchs, a monastery, basilica, museum, and even a school for kids.  The monastery is the Monasterio de San Lorenzo, who was a martyr (burned to death on a grill) so there are numerous references to him and to grills.  El Real Monasterio is the main attraction in El Escorial, so most of our tour was inside today, which was nice since it was quite cold today.

Part of the Real Monasterio

View of the landscape from El Escorial

We were not allowed to take any picture inside, which is a shame… the basilica is absolutely stunning (although I prefer the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.).  Inside, we saw the basilica, the palace (the king’s and queen’s private quarters and numerous drawing rooms), the library (all the books are lined up with the pages facing out and the spines in… interesting), and the crypt where all of the kings and queens of Spain are buried (is buried the right term?  I must confess, I have little experience with crypts).  The oldest king in the crypt is Charles V, who was king of Spain as well as the Holy Roman Emperor in the 16^th century.  In the main crypt, only kings and queens who bore kings of Spain are buried.  Fun fact: the bodies have to wait in a “rotting room” for several decades before being placed in the crypt (the coffins—or whatever they are called—are much too small for full bodies, so they wait until the bodies are just bones to put them in the crypt).  There are about 20 additional rooms, besides the main crypt, where other royal family members are buried.  I found it a little weird, but it is a nice memorial to the family… just strange to think about.

Outside, we saw the impressive courtyard and the gardens of the monastery.  The landscape from El Escorial is very pretty, but I think Toledo was more beautiful.  After grabbing some lunch (I had pasta and it was delicious!  I also shared a wonderful piece of chocolate cake with Madeline.  Yummy!), we wandered through the town and happened upon a parade!  I think it was a celebration of Saint Sebastian, and there was music and dancing.  Totally unexpected find, but we made the most of it and enjoyed seeing the culture of El Escorial in action!  This town was definitely the least “touristy” of the four that we saw (Segovia, Toledo, Salamanca, and El Escorial), but it was a very interesting tour and a good trip.

Entrance to the basilica

Part of the gardens

It's quite a large building!

Parade pictures!

Tomorrow is Monday, which means class… it’s sometimes hard to remember that I am a student here and not just on perpetual vacation!  Tonight is also the Bears-Packers game.  Hopefully I can get the game online!  GO BEARS!!!!

Good night all,

Elizabeth

P.S.  I will be in Paris in 4 days!  And only 15 days until part of my family visits!  Yay!!