On Saturday we met our guide at school and traveled in bus to San Lorenzo del Escorial a town about 50 km outside Madrid. It was built by Philip II as a palace, basilica, monastery, museum, library and pantheon for the Spanish kings. Today it is a school and monastery, and the basilica is still used for Masses. It is a massive, imposing granite building set into the side of the Guardarrama mountains. Our tour lasted about 2 hours - I think that was all the boys could take! They had some free time to wander around the town and then we were off to the Valle de los Caídos, also a basilica and the final resting place of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
It is imposible in photos to really get a sense of the awesome size of the basilica at the Valley of the Fallen.
The basilica is very dark and austere inside: filled with demonic angels and dark images. Although it is still used regularly for masses, it is primarily a mausoleum. The students seem to like the modern lines and the fact that it is cavelike in that it is carved into the mountain. The 150 metre high marble cross is atop the main altar and rises out of the rock into the endless blue, spanish sky. 
We continue with the blistering hot heatwave, but I must say everyone has been really good about drinking plenty of water and as far as I can tell, no one is suffering inordinately from the extraordinary heat.
On Sunday I took the group to Segovia, an important roman town about 100 km north of Madrid. To get there we crossed the Guardarrama again emerging on the north side of the mountains and getting a great view of the meseta as it stretches across Castilla Leon as far as the eye can see. The highlight of the Segonian skyline is the Baroque Cathedral, rather small by Spanish standards, but beautiful nonetheless.
As we climbed into the fortressed city, we got a great look at the original "murallas" or city walls that surrounded the entire city during midieval times. We suddenly heard music and followed the sound. Turns out there was a festival going on and we got the full benefit of the parade and the giant figures that are carried in procession through the streets. What a great surprise for the kids!
We followed the parade up into the Plaza Mayor and then continued down through the narrow streets of old Segovia until we arrived at the Alcazar. An Alcazar is different from a castle in that it was a palace fortress. Not only used to defend a city, but a royal residence as well. This particular alcazar is important also because it was the model for the Disney Kingdom castle in Disneyland, CA. It is also the place where Isabella was crowned queen of Castilla in 1474 and the boys got a great visit of the throne room, chapel, armory, bedroom and finally got to climb the tower to the top of the Alcazar.
One of my favourite things about this particular castle is that the students can take as many photos as they want of the interior. In so many places no interior photos are permitted... but in Segovia there are no prohibitions at all. After the Alcazar, we found pizza for lunch (that was a hit!) and then went to the Cathedral for a visit. It is on the Camino de Santiago route from Madrid. Although I have not walked this particular route, I showed the boys the chapel of Santiago in the Cathedral and they were fortunate enough to be able to get a "pilgrim stamp". I asked at the entrance if they would allow them to see the stamps that pilgrims receive when they visit the places along the pilgrimage route. Each of them received their own pilgrim stamp on their entrance ticket! From there we walked down to the roman acueduct which was in use until the 1980s. It still works, bringing water 13 km from the mountians into the town of Segovia, but has been turned off in recent years. It is a dry structure, no mortar or cement in the lower part and it over 2000 years old.
We got back to Madrid at about 8:45, just in time for them to get home for dinner. It was a long day and a long weekend, but I think they enjoyed it. The teachers have told me this morning that the boys had many things to talk about and are much more animated in their classes. They are beginning to ask to visit certain museums and asking lots of questions (besides, "Can we eat now?"). And they are starting to keep up with me - soon, I´ll be the one lagging behind!
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