That ring of confidence

The Royal Monastery
Originally uploaded by cuellar.

Today was our first, and only, day trip from Madrid.  Using one of our Eurorail days we took the train from Madrid to El Escorial to see the Palacios Reales [pr] the castle / church built in the 16th century to house the kings of Spain.  It was giant, but after a nearly unending series of churches, museums, and palaces it´s hard to be impressed, though it was very... err... old. 

This time we bought the audiotour at the start so that we were better informed this time than previously.  It was of course a bit dry, but it helped since most of the signs were only in Spanish and I for one do not read any of that.

The city itself is quite small, and seems to exist largely to provide secruity guards for the Palacios Reales.  I´m sure there is other industry, but there was nothing evident other than a grocery store, resturants and shops.  Lydia pointed out that a lot of the town´s residents probably commute into Madrid, and she´s probably right. 

Now we´re off for some falafal and then bed, though I do have this pesky article to finish.  One more day in Madrid then it´s the journey home.  Back on the 3rd my peeps.  Back on the 3rd.