Written by: Emily Foscaldo
After taking a bus, the group walked over to this quaint area and grabbed a bite to eat. I had a tortilla, which is a very common food here. It contains eggs, onion, and potatoes, and it takes the form of a cake, but tastes a bit like an omelet! Other people in the group ordered coffee, which we have learned that it is not common to have iced coffee, therefore they gave us a cup of ice to put the hot coffee into.
I noticed that the weather felt much cooler, and there was a nice breeze in the air: a perfect day for a visit. After breakfast we left for El Escorial, which contains a palace, church, monastery, and numerous other fascinating areas. Philip the second began the creation of El Escorial in 1563 in a way to remember the defeat of the French battle of St. Quentin. Despite the numerous years from the start of the formation of the building, the structure was very well kept, with large pillars and stone that remained intact. We began our walk and were greeted by numerous beautiful paintings that lined the walls and the ceilings. Our breath was taken away by a fantastic piece of art that decorated across the ceiling, which we took a long staircase to get to.
We visited the past rooms of kings and queens, and noticed how small the beds and their bedrooms were, for we assumed they would have grand beds and bedrooms.
We then entered the monastery and saw the graves of numerous kings and queens that were scattered throughout. There were also infants of kings and queens that did not survive childhood, which was a common occurrence during this time period. The final room we visited contained reigning kings and queens with large caskets that nestled in the wall around the circular room. I was shocked to learn that their bodies are not in the caskets but instead they are underground, which is something we viewed with King Ferdinand and Queen Ysabelle.
Once leaving the monastery, we dispersed into groups for lunch, and we found a very cute restaurant that had seating outside. Lizzie (Elizabeth) Leo and I split tempura veggies with our meals, and we received very salty soy sauce as a dip for it. Definitely something new, but it brought much flavor to the vegetables and tasted very good!
After lunch, the group met back at El Escorial and we toured a church, which contained one of the highest ceilings I have ever seen. Similar to the beginning of the tour, the church had a large painting that covered the ceiling, and it was absolutely stunning. The group walked throughout the church and we were lucky enough to go into an exhibit that had not been opened prior to the pandemic beginning.
Our last stop was to the Gardens, which was surrounded by a beautiful view of the area surrounding El Escorial, so far that we could see the towers in Madrid!
There were numerous peacocks which had long, delicate feathers, and they walked around the outside of the gardens. I have been deemed the photographer of the group, so I took numerous pictures to capture our wonderful trip!
The weather was fantastic, the foot traffic was very low, and the experience was great overall!!