Blogs from El Escorial, District of Madrid, Spain, Europe

Today we had to traverse Madrid again using its network of ring roads. M25/M1 and M6 all rolled into one. To make it worse it was rush hour and the morning traffic was awful. Nose to nose all along the route. The Spanish are impatient drivers weaving in and out of the traffic at impossible angles and doing excessive speed. The route is stop . start as other roads join us or our road leaves the motorway. It feels as if we are getting nowhere fast. We even see our first car accidents. We had commented that we had seen none this trip and then true to form once one came along another followed pretty closely. Both the same. A driver travelling too fast . Perhaps using a mobile phone or not concentrating. The car in ... read more

This weekend was another opportunity to take a side trip out to El Escorial. Only about 45 minutes outside Madrid, we again went with Professor Alex as our guide (and this time it was only him because the group was smaller... in case you read my Segovia post). El Escorial is the site of the very historical palace where the kings of Spain ruled for about a century in the 16th and 17th century as well as a monastery. It was built in the mid 1500's, at the height of the Spanish empire by King Phillip II who wanted a central place to rule his vast empire from (unlike his father Charles, who was a roaming and fighting King, Phillip chose to remain and rule from one location) as well as a place to build a ... read more

Photos of Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, monastery...... read more

Today I ventured out to El Escorial. Its a cute town with a famous palace/monastery complex called, what else? El Esorial! It was gorgeous. It was built in the 1500's by King Felipe II, and now almost all the kings of Spain are buried there! I went into the Pantheon of the Kings, and it was very beautiful, but eerie too. After getting the tour of the palace I had two hours left to kill before I had to catch my bus. I began wandering through the cute streets when a friendly looking grampa said "want a beer?" My first thought was Rafa saying "never trust Spaniards" but my next thought was "yeah actually, I could use a beer on this hot day!" So I took a seat and talked to the man for the rest ... read more

1º de Maio de 2008 San Lorenzo de El Escorial é uma cidadezinha que está mais ou menos a 50 quilômetros de Madri. Este foi a primeiro lugar que eu visitei depois da minha chegada a Madri. Foi também a primeira vez que eu andei em um trem de linha em Madrid (chamado "Cercanias"). A verdade é que ver uma construção do século 16 em tão bom estado de conservação e com a magnitude que tem o mosteiro/palácio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial impressiona a qualquer um. Este mosteiro/palácio foi construído a pedido do Rei Felipe II e é onde estão sepultados a grande maioria dos reis espanhóis. Como se trata de um monumento dedicado a Deus a decoração da parte dedicada ao palácio é muito simples quando comparada com outros palácios. Nesse mesmo dia ... read more