A hungover traipse around this massive and austere royal palace/ monastery complex wasn't really motivating me to get out of bed after a great night of tapas and bar hoping with my brother and his girlfriend in the Spanish capital. However I finally mustered the strength to roll up to El Escorial on the commuter train that goes through central Madrid. Much to my surprise this severe monument broke me down and I actually started to like it by the time I finished my mammoth stroll around.

First off this place is gigantic, it dominates the whole town and just walking around the main route will take several hours. It was also built out of a sense of religious duty by a very devout monarch, as such it is not an opulent explosion of decoration but rather a grey labyrinth of breezy corridors and stairwells occasionally opening up into some vast galleries which once housed one of Europe's finest collections of art.

There is a fair amount of this collection left to view in situ; however the real highlights have been moved to the Prado in Madrid. A visit to that museum was the distinct highlight of my first trip to Madrid, and was a great complement to my trip to El Escorial. My distinct highlight was Rogier van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross, the original is in the Prado but there is a very good copy by Michiel Coxie still housed in El Escorial. The staggering array of great works is impressive and sits perhaps only below the Vatican as an original repository of such exceptional works of western art. El Escorial also has occasional flourishes of fine decoration which seem almost juxtaposed with the rest of the building, the basilica has some fine frescoes and the painted ceiling of the main staircase in impressive, but seemingly overlooked by many visitors and it is a slight de tour at the end of a mammoth tour. The Royal mausoleum, hall of battles and library are also memorably decorated. After a lengthy walk around the complex I headed back to the station through the nice planned park, in time for the hourly trains back to the capital for more tapas and a match at the Vincente Calderon.

I'm not sure I would stretch to saying it was an enjoyable visit, but certainly a very worthwhile trip to make from the Spanish capital. If you couple it with a trip to the staggering Prado museum you can get an idea of one of the most astonishing complexes in European art.

[Site 8: Experience 5]