One day trip to El Escorial, Madrid

El Escorial officially belongs to the camarca of Cuenca del Guadarrama. It is a quite small, yet beautiful, well organised but especially cozy place which is home for 14, 980 people. The most important, most visited and most beautiful place in this region is the monastery known as Monasterio de El Escorial which is a Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de el Escorial. 

On the other hand its exterior reminds of the exterior of the Versailles Palace in Paris. The walk in its gardens is a real pleasure and calmness. The Royal family used to enjoy this luxury place at its time.

The very first action of building this priceless work of art was made in 1563, on April 23 to be precise. There's a church in its interior that is sometimes closed for the public audience for it is still in use for religious events.

It took 21 years to construct this beautiful Royal place which caused transformations in the urban and social environment in El Escorial. About 3.000 constructors worked on its construction which eventually costed about 6.2 million of ducats. 

Not only the San Lorenzo Monastery is what makes this little town beautiful. The local people are so proud and lucky to have the opportunity to enjoy the beauties of it, its surrounding and the whole town while proudly representing it to the tourists that visit every day! The greatest part of the town is a mountainous terrain. 

The name of the town comes from the word 'escoria' which means slag. That's because of the old local foundry that used to be important for the town.

La Granjilla de la Fresneda, or just La Fresneda was a cottage of the king Phillip II in the environment of the Monastery of El Escorial. It was constructed between 1561 and 1569.

The church of St. Barnabas was designed by Francisco de Mora at the wish of Philip II who's wish was to replace the old church with a new one at the same place. What marks this church as a building of that time is its simplicity in construction, the equilibrium, harmony, proportion and absence of ornamentation.

The monastery itself is one of the most important Spanish Renaissance monuments. One of the most beautiful parts of its interior is the rich Royal library and all the documents that could be found among the books.

On November 2, 1984 UNESCO declares the whole monastery building and its surrounding as a World Heritage Site. On June 21, 2006 the Community of Madrid declares it as a Property of Cultural Interest. 

The interior of the buildings reminds of the one of the Vatican in Rome mainly because of its architects which were the same. One can see and learn all about the Spanish history inside it, even the tombs of the previous kings and queens, even their siblings and children who never managed to reach the tron.