El Escorial

In Spain, I got the amazing opportunity to visit El Escorial with some Dukies. We didn’t have much time because we wanted to get back to catch the last half of the soccer game at Plaza Colon, but I thought it was well worth it. We caught the train from Atocha after we spent the morning with the class at Reina Sofia. A little over an hour later we were there. Then, after a slightly excruciating walk up the gigantic hill to El Escorial, we took in the view behind the gardens and over the land. The monastery is one of the largest buildings I have ever seen. We almost got lost in the monastery while we were looking for the gardens because it is so big! But thankfully, Julie (who can find her way out the Sahara ) led us out. I enjoyed wandering through the monastery and seeing all the religious paintings. It was very important to me to make the trip to El Escorial after learning about it in class. It was nice and quiet inside and we got to wander through the rooms and quietly reflect on each one. I saw paintings about scenes from the Bible, the Last Supper, and many pictures of Baby Jesus (who isn’t as cute as we’d hoped, according to Jess and I.) We saw very famous works by El Greco and Velazquez. Also, we went downstairs to the tombs. They ask for silence whilst inside the tombs to be respectful. This was also a nice time for reflection. I wish we had more time there and hopefully I will be able to go back in the future and appreciate it another time.