I can't believe it's already been a month since I've been here and that it's already February. This week seemed to fly by between classes and travel planning, which thankfully is now done! Yesterday we had another excursion, this time to the Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen Monument.
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| Outside El Esocrial |
El Escorial is one of the largest structures in Madrid, if not the largest. It's basically a castle that is a church, library, and museum all in one. We visited the two of the museums in the castle, the library, the church, and the tombs. It was used by many of the past monarchs of Spain, and many of them are buried there. The main burial area contains the remains of the prominent kings and queens that had a son that became king. Connecting to that are many other tombs that contain the bones of many of the younger children and other royal family members. It's considered an honor to be buried in the Escorial. It was really interesting to see, since I didn't realize that there were actual tombs there. There was also a collection of Spanish tapestries from the 16th century that are the among the oldest in the world, along with countless pieces of art from different centuries. I wished we could have spent more time in the library being the bookworm that I am, but it was an incredible experience to see all that we could during our visit.
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| View from the Valley of the Fallen |
Our other visit was to the Valley of the Fallen, also in Madrid. The Valley of the Fallen Monument was constructed by dictator Francisco Franco to honor those that had died during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's. It is the largest cross in the world and Franco is buried there. I didn't know a lot about any of this until after vising the monument. Below the cross is the entrance to the church area where Franco is buried. We got to see his grave and I learned that there are other remains there of those that died during the Civil War that are not on display. It's a controversial monument since it was constructed by Franco and he only has been dead since 1975. From a history standpoint, it's difficult to have an unbiased opinion since it was so recent and I'm not entirely sure what my overall opinion of the monument is exactly. I do know that I'm really glad that I was able to go to the monument though and that there are many more excursions ahead!
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| Valle de los Caídos, Valley of the Fallen |
