Greetings from Granada: Escorial and Toledo

Before leaving Spain I was eager to do some traveling around the country that I called home for 10 months. After much thinking and planning, I decided not to travel to any other countries, but focus on seeing major spanish cities I had not yet visited. The first stops on my busy itinerary were the Escorial, the monastery of Philip II, and an afternoon in Toledo. I booked this trip through an online travel website that had a package to the Escorial and Toledo with lunch included. Since I was traveling alone and I was unsure of how exactly to get to the Escorial, going through a tour group seemed like a good choice. I went back to Madrid for the 4th time to meet up with the group, and to do some leisurely touring of Madrid for the last time. I was proud of myself for managing the Metro from the bus station again, and then finding my hotel which was located right off of Puerta del Sol in the heart of the city. I arrived exhausted after not having any sleep the night before due to studying for my art history final exam. I ate dinner and was in bed early to start the tour the following day at an early 8:30 AM. I was slightly nervous about finding the Plaza de Espana, where I was supposed to meet the group. Fortunately I had no problems, and within minutes we were on a bus destined for the Escorial. I met a friendly young woman from Florida who I hung out with throughout the day-- we didn't exactly fit in with the other older American couples on the tour.

The Escorial is about 30 minutes away from Madrid, in a small community called San Lorenzo de El Escorial. I was determined to see this royal monastery before leaving especially since we studied it in my art history course. The Escorial is an enormous monastery of Philip II (former king of Spain, son of Charles V/Holy Roman Emperor) built in the late renaissance by Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera. The building itself honors the battle of St. Quentin--our tour guide told us during this time it was common to build palaces honoring battles. It is in the shape of a grill to represent the grill on which Saint Lawrence was martyred on. The building is made up of a church, library, residence, monastery, and royal pantheon. The church or basilica is said to be the most impressive part, and unfortunately it was closed during our visit. We did, however, tour the pantheon, viewing all of the tombs of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties. Surprisingly, the living quarters of Philip II were quite modest in comparison with other royal palaces. The Escorial also houses some great works of art by artists such as El Greco, Tintoretto, Velazquez, and Alonso Cano. I enjoyed the trip to the Escorial. My only complaint was that the tour was a bit rushed.

Courtyard of the Kings

main entrance to the Escorial

one of the buildings functions as a school--all of the school children had recess in front of the Escorial

side view of the royal monastery

pretty view of the Escorial

After the Escorial, we drove over to the Valle de los Caidos, or Valley of the Fallen, a Spanish Civil War memorial and the site of Franco's tomb. We stayed here for about an hour and toured the inside of the monument that has an impressive basilica.

driving up to the Valle de los Caidos

close up of the cross and memorial underneath

supposedly one of the biggest crosses in the world

We ate lunch in Toledo in a traditional Spanish comedor that had a nice view of the city. I sat with a woman from Argentina, who was also by herself. She spoke no English which gave me a good opportunity to show off my Spanish. I picked up on the differences between Latin American Spanish and Spain Spanish. She said "lindo" instead of "guapo" and used it often to describe Italy. "Elizabeth, Italia es lindo, como un sueno, tienes que ir." We had a quick tour of Toledo, seeing El Greco's obra maestra (El Greco lived in Toledo), El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz, touring a monastery, visiting an artisan workshop, etc.

We returned back to Madrid around 7 PM, and realizing the day was still young, Grace (the girl from Florida) and I headed to the Tourism Office in search of a flamenco show. A helpful guy told us about several shows that night. We headed to the first one and it was cancelled, and the second one was difficult to find. Luckily, tickets were still available and they were still seating people. This was my first flamenco show in Spain--it was the perfect length (about an hour) and not only was there a dancer, but also a singer and a guitarist. We enjoyed the show and then trekked over to the Hard Rock Cafe for an american dinner. I was proud that I was able to show Grace around, she was in Madrid for the first time. I helped her figure out the Metro and told her some good tourist spots. The next day I slept late and then went back to the Prado for lunch and to see other paintings we discussed in my art history class. I was pushing it close to make it to the bus station by 5 PM and had to allow an hour to get there by Metro. The whirlwind trip was starting to take a toll on me by this point. While going through the turn stall at the metro stop a woman ran in behind me and got in on my ticket. Later I fell down the steps with all of my bags going toward the train. I finally made it to the bus station and headed back to Granada to continue the rest of my last minute traveling.