Another monument to old Spanish royalty, the town of San Lorenzo del Escorial (pop. 19,000), at the foot of the Guadarrama Mountains, started with the austere but imposing monastery designed by Juan de Herrera and built in the 16th century by order of Felipe II. This complex has more than 4,000 rooms, along with a basilica and myriad courtyards; the Royal Pantheon is the resting place of various Spanish monarchs of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties; the library brimming with valuable and rare manuscripts not just in Spanish but also Arabic, Greek, and Latin; and the Salas Capitulares house works by the likes of El Greco, Titian, Velázquez, and Bosch. In addition, the town is a charmer in and of itself, with numerous streets lined with palazzos and other majestic buildings.
Read more in our post 4 Delightful Day Trips from Madrid.
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