El Valle de los Caidos and El Escorial

El Valle de los Caidos

On Friday, Stephen joined us to help split the gas and we drove out of town into the mountains. In about an hour, we were suddenly in the middle of this beautiful forested mountain scene so different from Madrid or what you’d expect from what most people think of as a very dry country. We parked the car near a bridge and got out and it made me so happy because it smelled so fresh and wonderful. It really made me miss my grandparent’s mountain house in Jonas Ridge. Anyway, the way it looked was very much like the Black Forest near Mt. Rushmore. From there we could see our destination very clearly – El Valle de los Caidos. This is where Francisco Franco was buried. Now, the site is very restricted because of political tension. In fact, to even get near the area, we had to tell the guard we wanted to go to mass.

Enrique & Lauren in front of the Valle de los Caidos church

This is my basic understanding of the scenario: shortly before WWII Franco lead a revolution against the Republic government at the time (which was very far-left and non religious – more socialist). So, it was Franco (aided by Mussolini and Hitler), against the Republicans (the socialists) aided by Russia (and maybe someone else?). Anyway, Franco won but in the meantime, many people on the Republican side were killed. After this civil war, this huge church was built into the side of this mountain with a HUGE cross on top that can be seen for miles and miles around. Many people from both sides were buried here (along with Franco himself) and it’s been very contentious because those who were against Franco don’t want their dead buried there, but they won’t release them to be buried elsewhere.

In the gardens of El Escorial.

For good or bad, Franco had a huge impact on the country. He established a lot of new business and regulation, including the mandate that children go to school. After he died, he’d established a system that lent itself easily to becoming a democracy, which it did two years later.

With Stephen at El Escorial.

The church, along with the architecture surrounding it and the views, was quite impressive, but a little weird. It had a lot of war motifs – like, instead of scenes from the Bible carved into the walls, it has scenes of war (many of which were from the Bible, but just not what you normally see depicted in churches).

From there Enrique drove us to El Escorial. This is a town with a huge palace/pantheon/library. The majority of the kings of Spain are buried here. Enrique had to go to leave for work shortly after 1 p.m., so the three of us just walked around the tow and through El Esociral’s gardens. After Enrique left, Stephen and I went inside the structure. We thought we’d have to pay, but all I said was “Un estudiante, por favor,” and she gave me a free ticket and one for Stephen too. I was like “Wow, this is the second palace in a row that they’ve just let me in for free!” (Turns out, it was international museum day so all visitors were free. Haha).

Walking through the rooms you were allowed to see in El Escorial, it took about 2 hours – maybe a little more. It was absolutely huge. We saw the very modest quarters lived in by King Phillip II, as well as a royal library, the burial rooms covered in gold and marble, along with a bunch of other stuff. If Enrique had been there, it probably would have taken all day as he explained all the history, but Stephen and I just enjoyed seeing everything and reading the short descriptions in each room.

After the palace, we walked through the town a bit, played on some adult sports equipment (why don’t we have parks for grown ups in the USA? So much fun!), then caught a bus back to Madrid.

On the zipline

In Madrid Rio Park

Enrique was still doing work, so Stephen and I went to Madrid Rio – a HUGE park that is located on a very long stretch of ground over an underground highway. I wanted to go there because Enrique said there were zip lines in the park. As we started at one end of the park and began walking down its long, narrow stretch, I couldn’t help but be impressed. It was absolutely lovely. There as a nice path or biking or walking, as well as a gravel path. There was green grass you could play on, and every few thousand feet, there was some new bit of entertainment. Like a skate/bike park, playground equipment, fountains you could play in, cool bridges, etc. We found a zip line that you sat on and rode it from one side of an elevated sand pit to another. We weren’t sure it was the right one, but we waited in line with children and adults alike to take a ride. It was pretty fun and we both went twice. On the second time around, instead of sitting on the seat, I just held my body weight up with my arms and moved my legs around in the air to get a little bit of an arm workout. It was a lot of fun. :)

Moncloa Park near Enrique's place

It was starting to get dark, so we didn’t get anywhere near the end of the park. We got doner kebaps and then took the metro back to Enrique’s where we ate them overlooking the arch near Moncloa station. Stephen went back to where he’s staying and agreed to meet us again at 9 a.m. on Saturday to go to Segovia.