Saturday, October 6, 2018

A City Escape

My first week in Madrid, I walked almost everywhere and saw almost everything. I visited every museum, every church and every palace and ended up feeling a little jaded. Like I've seen it all before. A graffiti drawing here, a rose garden there. Another statue of someone who lived a hundred years ago, another painting of Jesus or the king. Yawn. It wasn't until I went on a day trip to the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial that the surroundings finally took my breath away. That's when it hit me that I'm living on historical grounds. That's when I realized that I can't keep walking around in the dark when the sun is shining; I have to open my eyes so that I can let the light in and learn from the past. 


The monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial was built in the 16th century and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although often frowned upon by the Spaniards, this imposing palace is one of the main monuments of the Spanish Renaissance and it seemed magical to me as I wandered through the rooms where princes dined, kings died and monks prayed. There's the chair that Philip II was carried in on his last journey to El Escorial in 1598, there's the Queen's room with a rare 500-year old organ and there's the pantheon where their bodies still rest. Or at least the caskets with their names on them can be found here. 

My favorite part is the royal library, which is absolutely magnificent. The ceilings are covered with frescoes painted by Italian artists and 40,000 ancient books have been turned around on the shelves so that their pages can get some air. Some of these books have been here for over four hundred years. They have been through fires and wars and they still stand. They survived. 


I walk back to the train station through the Prince's park, enjoying the fresh mountain air and admiring the giant trees. I take a deep breath and one last look at the mountain peaks before boarding the local train to Madrid. I've always loved being surrounded by mountains. They make me feel safe in a hectic world where nothing ever stays the same, except the mountains. They don't move. And somewhere in between them are the pages of our books. Our wars are the mistakes that we don't like to talk about and our fires are the regrets that burn inside of us until there is nothing left but ashes. Yet somehow, we survive. We become a little rustier and a little dustier, but we still stand. 

Few of us can afford to live like royalty, but while we're here, we can make the most of what we have and enjoy the little things in life. And if we're lucky, we may get a chance to walk down the Prince's path towards the sunset at the end of the tour. 

Paseo del Principe