El Escorial & The Feast

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I wake up this morning and head down to the complimentary breakfast, which isn't as good as the one at Hotel Regina but it will do. After I feel like I've eaten enough to tide me over til we get to El Escorial I finish getting ready and head down to the lobby. Once everyone who is going to the wall with me arrives we head out with Cesar who shows us where to purchase our tickets and the two different entrances we can take and use to get in and out.

We start at the first entrance and climb up a steep set of stairs that leads onto the main walkway of the wall. As we walk along this main drag we notice the different towers that are accessible with smaller sets of stairways. We venture up into each tower to check out the views which are amazing from any angle and take this opportunity to take as many pictures as possible. And believe me I took plenty! Once we walk as far as it will let us we decide to walk back down the way we came and head over to the second entrance which is actually inside of a building where the tour information and assistance is located. The entrance was pretty interesting because although it started off as normal wood stairs inside the builidng, they began to change along with the walls until it opened up into the stone stairway that led up to the wall walkway. We walked around this half of the wall and took some more pictures before heading down for good. It was a fun experience overall and enabled me to see more of the town and get a glimpse of the history of Avila.

Now that we were all back to the hotel and had everything packed up we made the trek down to the bus stop where we had been dropped off the day before. It was much easier going down the cobblestone hill than it was to go up and actually took a lot less time. Thinking that we were going to be late to the bus we rushed down within minutes, only to realize that our bus wasn't there. After Cesar made a few phone calls our bus arrived shortly and we made our way to El Escorial.

About an hour later we arrive in El Escorial and have only a short walk to our hotel. This hotel was nice like the last one but didn't have as much charm or character. However, the three balconies in our hotel room, yes three, made up for that! We didn't have much time to relax before heading out as a group again. Cesar wanted to eat at a specific place because he said it was like eating at the Chef's house. By that I assumed he meant that the owner was well known in the area and that the food was well worth it. It turns out that he was having a special that Sunday so it was about ten euros for a starter, main course, drink, and dessert. I had rice and fried eggs with a red sauce for my appetizer (I was starting to notice that fried eggs were one of the staples in some of the food here), chicken and french fries for my main course, and icecream for dessert. Everything was pretty good until I found a hair in my icecream. This was a minor detail and didn't bother me since we were in a hurry to get to the Monastery.

We arrived at the Monastery which was a lot bigger than I thought, it was even bigger than the Royal Palace in Madrid which had over 2,750 rooms! Cesar led us inside and ran off to grab our tickets. While we waited I wondered what I would get to see and if I would be able to take pictures of anything. Much to my dismay we weren't allowed to take pictures inside again, however we would be able to in the courtyards and garden. Cesar came back and led us through the Monastery and eventually we split up into groups. My group and I began realizing how large this building actually was when we kept entering room after room and hallway after hallway following the signs. I saw so many fresco paintings that resembled those that I had studied last year. Some of the girls even asked me questions about paintings and it felt good to be able to answer knowing that I was confident about what I was saying.

Moving on we finally met up with the rest of the group and entered the area in which there were tombs. This part of the Monastery was much colder and it actually gave me the chills to be around all of the memorabilia of deceased royal families. However, the next part of the tour was by the far the best. Cesar led us into the cathedral which was magnificent! Again, I'm not necessarily religious but even this part of the building made me breathless. The enormous fresco painting that encompassed the ceiling was beauitufl. Actually I don't even know a word better than beautiful to describe what it looked like but beautiful doesn't bring enough justice. After gazing at the ceiling and intricate altar Cesar lead us down into a small chamber called the Pantheon of the Kings which was just down the hall from the church. This room or tomb rather was small compared to the rest of the rooms we had seen and was actually circular shaped with coffins covering the walls from floor to ceiling. Each coffin had the name of the king or queen inside and we learned that the last king who died still hadn't been placed in his coffin yet. And he died years ago. The reason behind this is because the bodies are put into a rotting room and put through a specific treatment that takes years before the remains are ready to be placed in the Pantheon room. This room was completely surreal to me, and it still blows my mind that I had the opportunity to view something like that.

Once we were done viewing inside of the Monastery we headed out into the garden. This garden was something my mother would have loved to have seen. It was incredibly immaculate in every shape and form. From the perfectly trimmed bushes and clean walkways to the clear ponds, this place was close to perfect. We walked around the entire garden which was a lot larger than we thought and then didn't realize that the only way back out was at the entrance we came in at the beginning. I figured I was getting my cardio of the day and didn't mind making the way back and decided to take as many pictures as possible.

Considering our hotel was only blocks away we made it back in a short amount of time. Then after resting for about an hour we all headed down to dinner which I thought would have been in the dining room we saw on our way in, however, once we entered the dining room we were lead down another flight of stairs into an exquisite cellar that was formally set up for our arrival. We ordered wine and sangria and started with some bread. Shortly after our lovely waitresses brought out some tapas (starters) and then they kept bringing more and more out! I ate little sausages, olives, something that resembled potato salad but was much more creamy, croquettes (little fried breaded meatballs), fried blood sausage (which I didn't know what it was until Abby told us days later), little slices of what seemed like pizza except much more doughy and amazing and then a stuffed crepe. Finally once I was already completely stuffed of course, our main dish came out which was duck with french fries and pears and prunes. Then when I already thought I was done for, our dessert came out which was a strawberry and whipped cream layered pastry. In the end I was in a food coma and could tell that everyone else felt the same way too. We insisted on going to bed right away but Cesar really wanted to go for a walk and grab a drink so some of us went with him.

This time I ordered another white wine which was good just like the others. We sat outside for about two hours and just talked about everything until we decided to call it a night. As we walked back to the hotel I soaked in the warm air and reminded myself how lucky I was to be here. Even though this trip was a study abroad program through Central I felt like I was learning a lot more than just educational aspects. I felt like I was growing as an independent person and that my perspectives about the world and other cultures were beginning to broaden.

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Photos

The Wall
The main walkway.

From the wall
The view from the wall of the city below.

Part of the wall
Just part of the wall and fortress that we were able to see.

The Monastery
The Monastery we visited in El Escorial.

The Garden Entrance
Garden at the Monastery.

Our Group
Our group at the garden.

Tapas
Some sausages and olives. Tapas means appetizers or starters.