Madrid San Lorenzo Del Escorial

El Escorial—half monastery and half mausoleum—is the most popular daytrip from Madrid. Although Felipe II constructed El Escorial for himself and God, the complex, with its magnificent library, palaces, and works of art, seems made for tourists. Visits are popular during August’s Fiestas de San Lorenzo, when parades line the streets and fireworks fill the sky, and on Romería a la Ermita de la Virgen de Gracia, the second Sunday in September, when folk dancing contests fill the forests. The whole town shuts down on Mondays.

El Escorial’s train station (☎918 90 00 15), on Ctra. Estación, is 2km outside of town. Trains run to Atocha and Chamartín stations in Madrid (1hr.; 30 per day M-F and Su 5:47am-10:15pm, Sa 19 per day 5:47am-10:15pm; €2.90). Autocares Herranz buses (☎918 96 90 28) run from Madrid’s Moncloa metro station (bus #661, in the bus interchange just above the metro platform; 50min.; every 10-30min. M-F 6:15am-10pm, Sa 8am-8pm, Su 8am-10pm; €3.20) and back (every 15min. M-F 7:15am-10pm, Sa 9am-9:30pm, Su 9am-11pm; €3.20). Shuttles go between the bus and train stations (M-F every 20min. 7:23am-10:38pm, Sa-Su every 20min.-1hr. 9:44am-10:38pm; €1.15).

The tourist office is located at C. Grimaldi, 4. (☎918 90 53 13; www.sanlorenzoturismo.org. Open Tu-F 11am-6pm, Sa-Su 10am-3pm.) With your back to the bus station, turn right down C. Juan de Toledo, then make a right onto C. Floridablanca. Follow C. Floridablanca until the first archway on the left. From the train station, take the shuttle to the bus station or exit the train station, walk straight ahead, and follow the signs uphill (25min.). For a more peaceful walk, exit the train station and enter the Casita del Príncipe entrance directly in front of you. Start walking uphill and take the C. de los Tilos path, which leads to the monastery (25min.). The police are at Pl. de la Constitución, 3 (☎918 90 52 23). Many 24hr. ATMs can also be found along this street.

Sights

El Escorial

☎918 90 59 03. Complex open Tu-Su Apr.-Sept. 10am-7pm; Oct.-Mar. 10am-6pm. Last entry to palaces, pantheons, and museums 30min. before closing. Complete visit 2hr. Guided tour €10. Spanish tours every 15min.; English times vary. Monastery €8, students and seniors €4. Admission to tombs and library €8/4. EU citizens free W.

Monasterio. “ El escoria” translates roughly to “scum.” Indeed, the regal Escorial sits atop a mound that was once a refuse heap of bones and dung. Ironically, the pile of leftovers includes royal bones dating back to Charles V. Felipe II built the Monasterio de San Lorenzo de el Escorial as a gift to God and his people, and perhaps to alleviate his conscience for sacking a French church at the battle of San Quintín in 1557. In 1563, he commissioned Juan Bautista de Toledo to design the monastery-mausoleum complex on the side of Mt. Abantos, but Toledo died just four years into the project and the job fell to his pupil Juan de Herrera. With the exception of the Panteón Real and minor additions, the monastery was completed in just 21 years. Felipe oversaw the work from a chair-shaped rock, the Silla de Felipe II, 7km away.

What distinguishes El Escorial from other huge royal palaces is its utter simplicity. Four towers surround the central basilica in a perfect rectangle. Its “herreriano” style focuses on straight lines in preference to decorative pattern, which the architect thought distracted from the unity of the whole. Felipe himself described it as “majesty without ostentation.” Majesty indeed, the complex has 16 patios, 88 fountains, 1200 doors, and some 2700 windows, an incredible number for a building used only during religious festivals.

Galleries And Living Quarters. To avoid the worst of the crowds, enter El Escorial through the gateway on C. Floridablanca, where you’ll find a collection of Flemish art. Though much of the work is standard religious fare, keep an eye out for some exceptions. Bosch’s famous “Garden of Earthly Delights” hangs in replica on a tapestry in the first room. In the next room is El Greco’s “El Martirio de San Mauricio,”, which was apparently hidden away on a wall in the sacristy because it failed to please his majesty. Other works by Dürer, Zurbarán, Tintoretto, and Ribera also grace the walls of the galleries. The newly opened Museum of Architecture, after the art galleries, has plaster models of El Escorial, early building plans, and enormous 16th-century construction machinery that shows how the huge blocks of stone were lifted.

Azulejo tiles from Toledo line the Palacio Real, which includes the Salón del Trono (Throne Room) and two dwellings: Felipe II’s spartan 16th-century apartments and the more luxurious 18th-century rooms of Carlos III and Carlos IV. Felipe II’s rooms were designed so he could listen to and see masses from his own bed. The Puertas de Marguetería, crafted by German artist Jacob Weisshaupt, are doors inlaid with 18 kinds of wood in masterfully intricate patterns. The Sala de Batallas (Battle Room) features frescoes by Italian artists Grabelo and Castello. Look closer for comic details of the everyday; bowmen share a laugh during battle as two peasants look on, passing a wineskin.

Library. The biblioteca on the second floor holds over 40,000 priceless folios and manuscripts. Though several fires have reduced the collection, the extant volumes—some bound as early as 1500—are in remarkably good condition; the bindings, made of scraped hide, can last for hundreds of years. St. Agustin’s De Baptismo, placed between the 5th and 6th centuries, Alfonso X’s Cantigas de Santa María, Santa Teresa’s manuscripts and diary, the gold-scrolled Aureus Codex of 1039 by German Emperor Conrad III, and an 11th-century Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beato de Liébana provide just a sampling.

Basílica. Under the gigantic central dome is the basilica, which for years was seen as a direct link between the kings and God. Up the stairs are gilded statues of the entire royal family, genuflecting before Jesus and the more earthly retinue of Popes, saints, and clergymen. Felipe II’s room overlooks Titian’s ceiling fresco of the martyrdom of San Lorenzo.

Pantheons. The impressive—and creepy— Panteón Real contains the remains of Spanish kings since Charles V (and a lone queen, Isabel II); their stacked green marble tombs lie in a circular room. The nearby Panteón de los Infantes was built to house the remains of royal children.

Valle De Los Caídos

The Valle de los Caídos is accessible only via El Escorial. Autocares Herranz runs Bus #660 to the monument from the Pl. de la Virgen de Gracia (☎918 90 41 25 or 96 90 28. 20min.; Tu-Su 3:15pm, returns 5:30pm; round-trip plus admission €8.30.) Abadía Benedictina de Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos (☎ 918 90 56 11 or 918 90 13 98; patrimonionacional.es) holds mass M-Sa 11am; Su 11am, 12:30, 1, and 5:30pm. Entrance gate open Tu-Su 10am-6pm. €5.30. EU citizens free W.

In a valley 8km north of El Escorial, General Franco forced Republican prisoners to build the overpowering monument of Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos (Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen) as a memorial to those who gave their lives in the Spanish Civil War. As a historical wonder, this site should not be missed—but it also should not be misunderstood. Although ostensibly a monument to both sides, the inscription over the door to the crypt that reads “Caídos por Díos y España” (Fallen for God and Spain) suggests it is more a Nationalist memorial than anything else. Construction of the massive granite cross claimed the lives of at least 14 forced laborers. To climb to the base of the cross, follow the paved road up to the trailhead just past the monastery on the right (30min.), or take the funicular. Apocalyptic tapestries line the vast, austere, cave-like basilica, where the ghost of Fascist architecture rests. Muscular warrior monks watch the pews, while gigantic death-angels guard the crucified Jesus. Forty thousand dead Nationalists and many unidentified other soldiers are buried behind the chapel walls; José Antonio Primo de Rivera (godfather of Spanish fascism and the Falange party) and General Franco himself rest beside the high altar, underneath the imposing cross with its giant statues. While the monument could be seen as a testament to the glory of Franco’s dictatorship, for most Spaniards it persists as a stain on the central Spanish landscape.