El Escorial is a palace/monastary built by Phillip II because he promised it to God in return for victory. It is just outside Madrid on our side of town, so we went to see it on Sunday morning. The funny thing about churches in Europe is they hardly ever have services, even on Sundays some of them are open for visits.
The palace part of the monastary was added to house Phillip´s rather extensive art collection. He had more than 1100 paintings there at one point. Some of the paintings were good, others rather second-rate. If you´re not into art it´s not really worth the walk through. I enjoyed it though.
My favorite part however was the basillica. It was by far my favorite Spanish church so far. Most Spanish churches are awash in gold. The place above the alter is almost always a mountain of gold. As I may have mentioned I´m not that into gold as a decorating motiff. This church was different. The main decoration, as befitted Phillips obsession, was painings. The ceilings are painted with religious scenes, and behind the alter are a series of wooden pillars, carved out of a beautiful dark wood, and in between the pillars are paintings. It was a beautiful piece of religious art.
Coming in Part 2....the bulls
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