Third Day of Madrid Tour - Jan. 10th

Our group took off in the buses towards the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen). In the 1940's, Franco ordered this to be built by prisoners of war. General Francisco Franco was the dictor of Spain until his death in 1975. It is a monument that honors all of the Republicanos and Nacionalistas that died during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939.) Franco's own grave and the grace of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera (a leader of the fascist party) are in front and behind the altar. The basilica is carved into the mountain and includes a 500 foot tall granite cross. Since it had been snowing again today they closed the private road that leads to this monument. They didn't think our buses could make it safely.

So we ventured on to El Escorial. It was built in the 16th century!!! This building is a palace, a monastery, a school, a library and the royal pantheon. We toured many of the rooms and were able to go into the basement to see all the tombs of the Kings and Queens that governed Spain during four centuries! Seeing all the gold tombs with their names was incredible. There were pure gold designs all over the walls and marble floors. We were also able to look at other rooms in the basement with tombs of Princes and other Royal family members.

After El Escorial we drove back to Madrid to visit the Modern Art Museum (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.) This museo holds one of Pablo Picasso's Masterpieces called, Guernica. It was based on a town in Spain that was destroyed in 1937 by German bombers. The mural was 11ft tall and over 25ft wide. It was so amazing to me to have learned about Picasso for many years in grade school and actually be able to see his artwork being an arms length away. Muy fantastico!

For lunch we went to a local place, La Brillante. I had a sandwich with chicken pieces, lettuce y salsa rosa (reddish mayonnaise.) Then we headed the Madrid Train Station with a couple new friends. Inside the train station was a beautiful tropical forest with turtles and fish in the pond. The rest of the evening was talking to Patrick, Mom and Dad and shopping en La Plaza Mayor! Definitely a great day! Tomorrow we leave to go to Segovia and I will finally arrive in San Sebastian!