El Escorial and Segovia

My host father drew my attention to a great organization here. It's called 'Club del Viajero' - which means 'Traveler's Club' - and offers organized day trips to other cities, sometimes even weekends or a whole week. On November 1st, I joined them once and it was worth it!

We left pretty early by bus and 4 hours later (we also took a half-hour break at a rest stop...) we arrived in San Lorenzo de El Escorial to visit El Escorial with a 2.5-hour guided tour - in Spanish, of course. But the tour was really interesting and time flew by.

El Escorial is a 'palace and monastery complex', to be precise, the largest in the world in the Renaissance style. It was built at the request of Felipe II, who wanted a 'spiritual retreat' here. Even today, there is still a monastery and even a school, but they cannot be visited. But with 1000 euros per month (without boarding), you can become a student there...

We visited the library during the tour. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed, so I could only take a quick 'snapshot' every now and then. The library houses over 40,000 books, perfectly suited for each subject and school level. There are also numerous preserved manuscripts that can actually be viewed upon request from the monks. In addition, over 200 banned books can be found there.

The complex itself is enormous. We walked through many corridors and examined many paintings in detail. I learned that the Virgin Mary is always depicted in pink and blue, which has to do with the fact that she unites heart (pink) and heaven (blue). The nine burial chambers were particularly impressive. You go from room to room and find beautifully designed tombs everywhere. They are all designed for important personalities of that time. The royal pantheon also left a lasting impression, where the coffins literally hang on the wall and are also meticulously sorted. It's hard to describe, but it looks really impressive.

We ended the tour in the basilica, a church with an impressive high altar. (I managed to take a photo of that.)

Felipe II died at this place at the age of 61. Quite old, considering that it was the 16th century. He himself is known for always eating incredibly much and in the end, he was no longer able to leave his own bed because he was so overweight.

After the tour, we had almost two and a half hours for lunch. Yes, the Spaniards need a lot of time for eating. I would have preferred if we had driven to Segovia faster, but I took the opportunity to explore the city more closely and visit the royal gardens.

We finally arrived in Segovia at half past five and had two hours until the return journey. So I walked through the city, past the Aqueduct, which was built during the Roman Empire, to a nice viewpoint and then to the cathedral. I would have examined it more closely, but unfortunately, it had already closed. So I continued to Alcazar where the same fate awaited me. On my way back, I walked through a Jewish quarter with an impressive church. By now, it was already dark, and I was able to enjoy the sight of Segovia at night before we started the journey back by bus.

Now this has turned into quite a novel, without intending it. Congratulations if you made it this far and have fun looking at the photos, this time I labeled them! (Reducing them to a small size is also not one of my strengths, but I tried my best!)