Vacation in Spain, Valle de los Caídos and El Escorial

This is the last post of our Spain vacation...can you believe it??? We took almost a thousand pictures that I've had to go through and post...phew!

On our drive back to Madrid (where all of us were sick and none of us took pictures), we stopped by the Valle de los Caídos (or Valley of the Fallen), a memorial conceived of by Franco and built by political prisoners to commemorate the fallen in the Spanish Civil War. Franco, the fascist ruler of Spain from 1936-1975, is actually buried there. This was one of the creepiest places Ian and I have ever been to. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed inside, so we don't have any of the strange fascist architecture, but suffice it to say, it really is worth a visit if you're ever in the area. (It's only accesible by car.)

This is actually three pictures stitched together, thus the weird borders, but it gives you a good idea of the outside of the monument:


A couple of views from the drive into the park:




Of course, because there was snow there and because Sophie had no idea of the political and social impact of a memorial like this, she had to play in the snow. She loved her name written in the snow for her:


And here is one of only two pictures taken at El Escorial, a royal palace and monastery built in the late 1500s. It's a beautiful building, but like the Valle de los Caídos, we were not allowed to take pictures inside.