El Escorial y Valle de Los Caidos

This past weekend the entire group traveled to the Valle de Los Caidos and the Escorial for a day excursion.  We left Segovia at about 10am and returned around 6pm.  First we traveled to the Valle de Los Caidos(Valley of the Fallen) to see the basilica and mass graves of the prisoners and well as the grave of Francisco Franco and his wing man during his dictatorship, José Antonio.  There is much controversy about this site since Franco is buried with the prisoners that he used to build the place.  It took 19 years to complete the Valle de Los Caidos.  When we arrived mass was taking place since the Basilica still functions today.  It was a neat experience.  The inside was breathtaking, but sadly we were not able to take pictures.  We ate lunch outside after touring the inside of the basilica.  After lunch we traveled down from the mountain into the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial to tour the Escorial.  This place was once used as a residence for the King of Spain but now serves as a monastery and museum.  We spent four hours here, which was way to long.  There was no heat anywhere in this building, so we all were freezing the entire time.  During the tour we were able to see many famous paintings, rooms of some of the royal personas de España, the Pantheon de Los Reyes, and tombs of royal children that died.  After four hours of walking we were all ready to get on that bus and make the 30min trip back to Segovia.  I think everyone slept for that 30 min, since we were tired and cold.  Anyways, I hope you enjoy the pictures and look forward to seeing more from our 4 day excursion to Barcelona this weekend! :)