Friday, April 13, 2012

      About two weeks after the first large group excursion to Madrid, the second one came up and I was very excited because I was feeling so much better!  We were all told a week in advance that the excursion would be to a beautiful monastery called El Escorial, located about 30 minutes northeast of Madrid.
      After signing up to ensure a place on the bus and that enough space would be booked in the restaurant for lunch, we were all finally ready to set off on our journey!
      Before embarking on the excursion, I had never seen a picture of El Escorial.  However, like everything about my stay in Spain, I had been told that it would be spectacular!  Here are some of my first pictures.


 
         After entering El Escorial, we were all given a guided tour.  Inside we saw a very large library, a beautiful church as well as the crypt where all of Spain's most famous kings are entombed.  Since pictures were only allowed in certain parts of El Escorial's interior, I was only able to take this one photo while inside.  Take a look!

   
       After seeing El Escorial's inside, we stepped outside and wandered around the gorgeous grounds and gardens.  Here are several pictures!



        If you look closely in the above photo you will notice that some of the surrounding mountains are sprinkled with snow!  Since the weather in Spain was very nice throughout my whole stay, I remember thinking how funny this snow was!


       
           If you look closely in the above picture you will notice two beautiful white swans swimming in the pond's upper-left corner.


         After our tour had officially ended, we all had a very delicious lunch of chicken and potatoes at a nearby restaurant.  After lunch we had some more free time to explore the city before it was time to head back to Toledo.  Here are some pictures I took.



       Well this is all for now, I hope you have enjoyed my seventh post!  In my next post I will explore the famous route of Cervantes' Don Quijote!

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