El Escorial & The Valley of the Fallen

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Today we booked a private guided tour of El Escorial & The Valley of the Fallen. Once Mikaley & Kyra were packed off to school our guides Penny & Talia drove us up to El Escorial, about an hour's drive from Aravaca in Madrid. The monastry, its gardens, and the view both up into the mountains behind and the sprawling city in the distance below are stunning. We took our time strolling through the gardens and taking it all in.

Penny then treated us to some tappas (grilled muchrooms!!!) and an iced lemon drink which we sat and thoroughly enjoyed in the stone courtyard outside a local cafe. I could get used to this lifestyle very quickly!

We opted not to go inside this time, so next stop was The Valley of the Fallen, some 30 minutes away if I recall correctly. This is the site of a memorial to those that fell in the Spanish civil war, and comprises a 152m cross atop a basilica carved into the mountain. Atop a mountain, the cross is visible for many miles on approach from Madrid. The steps also offer a breath taking panoramic view of the hills and valleys below. After taking in the view we entered the basilica - a surprisingly long basilica and simply stunning in its relative simplicity.

It was time for Penny to return to get the girls from school, so she dropped us off in the city at Plaza de Espana so we could explore Madrid for the rest of the afternoon.We took a leisurely stroll along the main streets, looking in the shopfronts, until we made our way to Plaza Mayor - the start of our tappas bar crawl on Monday night. I found the "bull bar" and snuck a few photos of the stuffed bull heads on the wall.

We headed back to Penny & Che's before it got too late. Unfortunately I can't recall what we had for dinner - I'm writing this entry over a week later - but I know it was very yummy!

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Photos

El Escorial
Karina & I as we wandered the gardens of the monastary

El Escorial
The view back up into the mountains

Valley of the Fallen
Penny, Talia & I sitting on the steps of the Basilica

View from the basilica
That's Karina in the distance, taking a photo of the panoramic views of the valley below

Plaza Mayor
Beautiful, and note the weather!

The "Bull Bar"
La Torre del Oro - also includes graphic photographs of when the bulls won!!!

Tappas
Karina standing outside the tappas bar where we started the "crawl" on Monday night