El Escorial



So I spent one Sunday with a bunch of other students going to this small town 2 hours away from alcala via train. It was the first time that I saw any mountains in Spain, I kind of did not know whether this country had any for a second. But dont worry I have seen and plan to see many more mountains.

When we first walked out of the station we had no idea where to go, but luckily someone brought a guide book. The book informed us that we needed to walk through a park in order to get to the Real Monastery. The park we went through was beautiful and offered great sites off the local mountain peaks. It was all uphill to the gigantic building of the Real Monasterio de Escorial. The site is beautiful for many powerful reasons.

First off it is the burial site of the most famous and successful royal families in Europe. This was the main purpose of it when the king of Spain proposed the idea a long time ago. Second off this building is one of the biggest I have ever seen in my visit to Spain. Of course, it is a very old building that is unlike most in the states. It is similar in age to many of the castles over here. It literary took us 2 in a half hours to get through it, and I was not looking at all the paintings etc. The paintings were all created by the top artists of the time, and are based on the catholic religion. Many depictions of jesus and the famous saints of Christianity. So not all artists made the cut due to politics within the royal family.

But check out these pictures on webshots and enjoy the sites of the little beautiful town that I hope to visit again sometime.