El Escorial y Valle De Los Caidos

This weekend was the weekend that we were scheduled to El Escorial and Valle de los Caidos, so that’s what we did! We were supposed to be at the bus at 9, and this time we weren’t helping the Shumway army (there were even more of them this week, the mom’s family was visiting, so that added another like 7 people.) Me and Paige figured we would avoid the stampede towards the bus and just get there on our own. So we actually got there early and got PRIME seats on the bus, and we finally headed out at like 9:15 or so. The ride wasn’t that long, but I was in one of those moods where I just did NOT want to be riding on a bus at all, so I was a little bit like a 3 year old always asking “are we there yet?!” but its alright because that was the mood that the girl sitting next to me was in too, so we sat there in misery together! But after what seemed like an eternity, we pulled into the small parking lot of the Valle De Los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) and got off the bus. This place was built only like 50 or so years ago by Franco (the last dictator of Spain- its argued both ways that he was good and bad) as a memorial to those who fell in the civil war. Some of us think it was more like a memorial to himself, because only him and his general are actually buried inside the basilica, but it could go both ways. It is the second largest basilica in the world, only because there is a law that says that no basilica can be bigger than that of St. Peters Basilica, so they didn’t dedicate the front half of it, so technically it’s the largest in size, but not the area that is dedicated. And another cool fact, it’s built into a mountain so all you can really see is the entrance and some pillars and such on the outside of the mountain. We got there right when they were holding mass so we weren’t allowed to go in and tour while this was taking place, obviously, so some people went in to attend mass and the rest of us stayed outside taking pictures and playing random girls camp games (good ol’ girls camp!) until mass was over and then we could go inside and see everything! Its huge! Its basically this one long hall that leads to the area when mass is held, with one big cross with Christ on it that is lighted in the center of the round room. There are big statutes on the side or the mass room that are big hooded figures and are kinda creepy, but the ceiling makes up for all the weirdness that the statutes bring! It’s a mosaic done with tiles and its gorgeous! I would have a picture but they weren’t allowed and I was not in such a rebellious, take a picture anyways mood, so… I am waiting to get pictures from those who were! Haha! The rooms on the side are separate worshiping areas with their own statutes and benches, and have some GREAT acoustics in there! Katelyn asked me to hum something in there for her, so I sat down and starting humming “Abide With Me, ‘Tis Even Tide”, my favorite hymn. And then after that we just kept humming hymns till some people came in and started praying. We figured this was our cue to stop humming our Mormon music and leave these people to do their thing! So we went to the other side and did the same thing till more people came and started praying. By that time it was about time to leave. There is also one of the biggest crosses that I have ever seen that is on top of the mountain that the basilica is built into! It’s made of stone and I think its somewhere around 500 feet tall! There are also statutes around the bottom of it that are bigger than any statute I have ever seen either! We weren’t able to go right up to it because the tram that goes to it is broken, so we were forced to admire it from a far, but it was still pretty grand to look at!
After that we had to leave to make it to our appointment at El Escorial, which is a palace that Phillip II built for himself about 500 years ago. It put him into debt, if I remember correctly, because it was so huge and expensive, and he had tons of other things he was supposed to be funding, like wars. Anyways… I don’t know why we ever have “appointments” to go places, we are never there for them, but we entered the palace around 3, and had till 5:30 to meet back at the bus. But it was not enough time to see everything! I think we lost a bit of time because we got lost and couldn’t figure out where we were for a while, all the halls look the same, but once we got oriented we were able to complete the tour, with one of the largest old libraries kept by one person, and all the books are stored with their spines to the wall, to protect them, which seems weird to me. You would think that you would want to preserve the pages of the books, but… to each his own! I think we should go there when you guys come! It’s pretty cool! So after getting lost in the building and wandering aimlessly for a while around till I think we saw just about everything except for the gardens, we went back to the bus. Professor Shumway thought it would be a good idea to go see a castle that was a bit out of the way for a photo op, so that’s what we did! The castle was actually pretty cool, unfortunately it was closed when we got there so we couldn’t go inside, but we got some good shots from the outside! Its what you picture when you think castle, with the tall towers with flags flying and the big, wooden gate in the front and the works! Some of the boys got kicked off the grounds for trying to forge the castle and scale the walls, including 2 of the professor’s sons, so we left pretty quickly after that, and drove the rest of the way home!