On Wednesday we got an early start and headed out of the city to el Escorial, which is a palace/monastery that was built by Felipe II in the 16th century. It is a pretty cool place because it was designed with the idea the the kings would live like monks and the monks like kings. However, even the kings still lived pretty luxuriously there, just not quite as opulently as in the other palaces! Felipe II was extremely religious, and his bedchamber even had a special door that opened up near the altar in the palace's church. This way he could hear the mass from bed! El Escorial is also where all the Spanish monarchs have been buried since King Carlos V, who died in 1558! It kind of grossed us out a bit though because the coffins are built to the size of men in the 16th century, which was a lot smaller than today, so now when people die they are left in "rotting rooms" for a few years until their bodies have decomposed enough to fit into the pre-made coffins! GROSS! Even worse, these rotting rooms were right next to where we were standing, and they are currently in use! Another curious thing about this royal tomb is that there are now no more vacancies, so no one knows where the current king will be buried when he dies... apparently he has told the people that he is just going to live forever, problem solved! =) The other amazing thing at el Escorial was the library. It was packed with thousands of ancient books, and apparently the original librarian was so worried about people stealing the books that he got a special dispensation from the Pope that said that anyone who took a book from the library would be excommunicated and eternally damned! That is quite a hefty library fine if you ask me!
Next we took the bus to visit el Valle de los Caidos (the Valley of the Fallen), a giant basilica built into the mountainside that serves to commemorate all the fallen from the Spanish Civil War. It also is a giant tomb because all of the dead are buried there, and Franco himself is buried there. This monument was ordered by Franco, and so it is now quite controversial because many of the descendants of the dead don't want their loved ones buried in a tomb connected to Franco. It was really extremely impressive, but it was also very very creepy. My roommate had it right when she said that it felt like a cathedral in Hell. Yikes! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside either of the places we went today, so you are just going to have to take my word for it!
Once we returned to Madrid we went to go see the Cathedral, which was gorgeous. It was a perfect mix of traditional and modern. After getting some chocolate y churros at a nearby cafe (they taste different than in Granada!), we turned in for the night.
The entrance to the basilica in the mountainside.
The giant cross that tops the monument. It is HUGE.
El Escorial.
El Patio de los Reyes en el Escorial.
The entrance to the basilica in the mountainside.
The giant cross that tops the monument. It is HUGE.
El Escorial.
El Patio de los Reyes en el Escorial.
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