Sunday 25 August 2002

El Valle de los Caídos


This morning we’re off to El Escorial to try to find El Valle de los Caídos (where Franco is buried). The journey turned into a bit of a farce. In Madrid we were told the buses were fairly regular, however we arrived at 11:30 only to be told the next bus to El Valle de los Caídos is at 15:15. So we got some food and headed to the park…

15:15 took ages to arrive, but when it eventually did we headed into the hills… The first glimpses of the Holy Cross were magnificent. The whole place was very atmospheric. Even more so when a huge thunderstorm arrived! It felt a little creepy walking along the crypt (262m long carved out of the rock), but better than being out in the thunderstorm :)

After photographing the monument from every conceivable angle we caught the bus back to Madrid and went to the Reina Sofía. What a quality place! The place was full of Picassos, work by Salvador Dali and an exhibition of photos by Elliot Ergwitt (my favourite).

After this we headed for food and then bed.

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