20160505ElEscorial | Spain May 2016

May 5, 2016, Friday — El Escorial Monastery

This morning Martha was still sick and Arthur became sick as well, so he took few pictures of the imposing El Escorial, a 16th-century architectural masterpiece completed in 1584 as a residence for the King of Spain and a monastery for the Hieronymite monks. Designed at the height of Spain’s international power, the structure’s floor plan was inspired by descriptions of the Temple of Solomon. Set at the foot of Mount Abantos, the enormous gray granite complex is the resting place of 500 years’ worth of Spanish Kings. El Escorial means “slag mountain”. Some of the group descended into the crypt below to see the Royal Mausoleum. It has 26 tombs for past kings and queens. The group also went to the Valley of the Fallen, a monument erected by Franco to commemorate those who died fighting on his side during the Spanish Civil War.