San Lorenzo De El Escorial is a monastarial and palace complex on the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama. A two for the price of one deal if you like. I'm not sure where all the monks were. I didn't see one at all. The holiest bit of the monastery was the basilica that had a rather impressive dome and frescoes of the usual heavenly scenes. If I had been an artiste of the time I would have painted trees. The monastery was built by Felipe II in return for the angels and gods helping him defeat the French in 1557. There was a hall of battles that was about 80 metres in length and a very detailed fresco that ran from one length of the hall to the other. I wasn't a fan of battle scenes until I saw this creation. It was so detailed you could see the spears of a battalion and the tiny tears on a war ship's sail.Here's a 360 degree view of what you can see from the outiside. One spin will do. I have no comment as to what passers by thought when they saw me pirouette in slow motion.
The palace also housed the Panteon de los Reyes (Crypt of Kings) where almost all of Spain's monarch lies with their spouses. It must be a nice feeling for the present king and queen of Spain to know where they'll be going once the clock stop ticking. I would like to be peppered in the
waters of Victoria Harbour and Sydney Harbour.There were other museums in the complex including the museum of architecture and museum of paintings. We walked through them quite quickly. I sneakily took photos of the palace gardens and then got told off by a guard for taking photos of the exterior! It's not like we had to pay extra to visit the gardens. Anyway, I got some pretty decent shots from an aerial perspective.
After the tour we walked around the town and found a spot along the tourist stretch for some beverages. By that time the place was crawling with tourists mostly locals. Then we grabbed some baked goods from the 'panderia' (incorrect pronunciation I was told and no, pandas were nowhere to be found). The my sister lined up for roast chicken that we never got to taste because as we sat in the gardens, huge drops of rain started to fall. So we packed up and headed to the car.
The rain stopped and so we took a detour to Silla de Felipe II, where it started raining again and I got out, ran, scurried up the rock. The clouds were hurling dogs at me as I was snapping away at the view of El Escorial in all its glory. For fear of my digital camera being drowned I ran back to the car and just as the car was making it's way back down the hill it stops raining. Great timing as always. The picture looks strangely sunny but the sky is not telling the truth.Tomorrow morning I board the train to Barcelona (finally!) Hannah has bailed out because her train tickets were stolen (to cut a long story short) so it'll just be my solo adventures. Stay tuned.
Photo of the Day
Just when you thought I couldn't jump any higher:
4 comments:
I'm thinking that in a few years time you'll be able to release a coffee table book of W-ko jumping in cities all over the world. Kind of look a Where's Wally, except you have to guess which city/country you are in. Btw, royalties can go to my mailing address if you do indeed steal this idea ;)
I like the X shadow you made on the pavement
133 don´t think I haven´t thought about it already. but you can be my PR. you still haven´t given me your snail mail address for a postcard.
You look like a JetStar commercial! I think there is money to be made in that!
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