I had an early rise and shine than most of the group this morning. Cesar, Doris and I decided to attended Catholic mass in a cathedral that was nearby our hotel because it was Sunday after all. Doris and I were interested in how similar or different mass was in Spain as opposed to in the states. The three of us woke up earlier enough to grab some breakfast before heading over to the cathedral. It was absolutely gorgeous inside. The ceiling above was painted beautifully and there were stone images of Jesus on the cross around the church. Cesar showed us the small yard with a statue of Jesus as a young boy and Santa Teresa. It was beautiful. Mass was shorter than we expected, it’s definitely shorter than the mass I attend back at home. We had enough time to go back to the hotel and meet up with the rest of the group before we all split into different directions for our activity choices. Doris and Stephanie went with Cesar to see the Monastery in Avila and a couple of the girls just decided to sleep in and stay in the hotel.
Allison, Alex, Aleksandra, Philip and I decided to climb the wall that Avila is surrounded by. We get to the ticket booth to purchase our tickets then head up the stone staircase. Little did we know our legs were still going to be burning from climbing the tower at the castle yesterday. We are definitely getting our daily exercise in with this activity but it was well worth the hard effort. We finally got to the top of the tower and just got to walk around. The view was gorgeous. You got to see the entire town of Avila and the sky was so clear and blue. This was a great way to start our day. All of us had a lot of fun climbing the wall but it was exhausting so we headed back to the hotel to pack up our stuff and hopped on the bus to El Escorial.
Another hour long bus ride and checking into another hotel. We got our room keys, which were actual keys by the way. Typically we get handed a card to swipe in order to get into our rooms so having a real key was weird, in a good way. We had just enough time to find a place to eat lunch before our tour began at the monastery. We looked at so many different places but they all seemed so expensive. We were all on such a tight budget that we continued to look until we found a perfect place that everyone felt satisfied with. We found a small family owned restaurant which served us a drink, appetizer, lunch and desert all for around ten euros. Now I think that bargain was worth the search. We did however let the owner know our time crunch and he was very understanding and did his best to serve us a quick lunch. He had amazing customer service and because of that we all tipped him very well. Cesar however, was a little bit shocked at the amount we tipped him and told us that we probably made his day. We had to make him feel rewarded after catering to all our needs in such a short amount of time.
So off we go, hurrying to the monastery to find out that our tour had been scheduled for yesterday instead of today. This was quite a mix up but nothing that can’t be fixed. We had to wait a little bit as professor Garcia settled everything but when it came down to it we all decided to go in and read all of the information ourselves instead of scheduling another tour. This turned our great because we got an opportunity to browse the entire monastery on our own and at our own speed. At one point we did think we lost Abby but she was just a little behind us and we all soon caught up to each other. We met right before entering the Pantheon of the Kings room where all the kinds were stored in their very own coffin or tomb. This room was full of past kinds of Spain and they were stored in order from past to recent in a circular form. Each of us shared a control that informed us of each of the kings and their Queens that were in that room as we all stood their staring up at all of the coffins. The most recent king, however, was not yet stored in this room. He was still in a special rotting room which can take years before being place in this room of honor. There were only a few more spots left for kings to be placed so I wonder what happens when they do run out of room someday. Do they make more room or do they start a whole other room. Who knows? Only time will tell I guess.
After the Pantheon of Kings room we visited the library. The magnificent view of all the books stored in that library for decades and decades was amazing. There was a huge globe in the middle of the library and more paintings. I wish I could have captured this view in a photo but once again, no cameras allowed. After finishing everything we could see at the monastery we stopped at the gift shop on our way out to pick up a few souvenirs. Next we went around the corner to take a look at the garden. No this is definitely a garden I have never laid eyes on before. It was so green and so beautiful. There were several different designs in each of the bushes. It was just so gorgeous to look at. There were peach trees in the center of some garden peaces and everything you look was just so breathe taking. We walked around the entire garden and even took a peek at the new garden they are beginning to add in order to expand the current garden. We thought the garden had an exit but we soon discovered that we had to walk all the way back to the entrance in order to exit the garden. This was quite time consuming in the heat that all of us were in. We took many pictures before leaving the garden and soon found a smoothie/ drink stand on our way back to the hotel. Several of us were extremely thirsty and bought lemon and berry frozen drinks which were all delicious.
After another long day we got back to our hotel to freshen up before heading to dinner. Little to our surprise we had no idea dinner was actually going to be a feast! Our hotel provided dinner for us tonight. So we just had to walk downstairs to the restaurant area and were treated like royalty. Some of us ordered Sangria and others ordered a glass of wine to start our dinner. Next came tapas, bread, more tapas, appetizers, more appetizers and before we know it we are stuffed way before our dinner even arrives. We do our best to finish our delicious dinner. I order salmon and I think it was the most flavorful scrumptious salmon I have ever had in my life. Next came some pre dessert snacks or as Allison likes to say “Prefunk to dessert.” For desert we got to choose from an array of choices but most of us either chose ice cream or a strawberry filled pastry.
It was getting late and we all had to waddle up stairs to get some rest. By the time we all got to our rooms no one was tired anymore so half of us contacted our fathers to wish them a happy father’s day and the other half of us decided to check out what El Escorial has in store for us at night. Our night turned short when we grabbed a glass a wine and soon began falling asleep at the table. It had been quite a day and tomorrow we have to head back to Madrid. We went back to the hotel to catch some Z’s before our early rise to the bus stop in the morning. Buenas noches. I’m exhausted.
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