Day 4 - El Escorial y Valle de los Caídos
This morning was a free morning, which was welcomed by all. We had a "check-in" in the main lobby at 9:00-9:30 to see what everyone's plans were for the morning. Most took advantage of some extra sleeping time, while others went exploring and shopping.
We met back up as a whole group and visited the Plaza de España to see Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. We then boarded the bus for our afternoon at el Valle de los Caídos and El Escorial. El Valle de los Caídos was built by the prisoners of war from the Civil War. The dictator Francisco Franco, built a 450ft granite cross and underneath of it, within the mountain, they built a huge basilica. This basilica was originally larger than St. Peter's on Rome and this was very controversial, so Franco installed a gate and said that the first 300' of the church is the entry, which then makes the basilica smaller than St. Peter's.
This was a very beautiful place, but very sad as well due to the amount of lives lost during its construccion.
We then moved on to El Escorial in the sleepy little town of San Lorenzo. El Escorial is a monastery and it is the Royal Pantheon. We had a guided tour that taught us all a lot. The most impressive was the pantheon of the Kings and Queen Mothers, which is where the former leaders of Spain are buried.
El Escorial was also a welcomed cool down from the heat of Madrid.
We returned and were given time to explore the modern art museum, el Museo Nacional la Reina Sofia and to relax in a cafe before our dinner and chirps experience.
We returned to the hotel for sleep and to pack up so we can move on to Segovia and Salamanca.
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