Well guys it's that time again!
Time to update you all on what has been going down in the lives of the Findlaters on our amazing travels abroad.
This blog is still brought to you from Spain and in the greater regions of Madrid.
As you all know I managed to score a job over here during a time of great financial crisis... at least that's what they call it.
So the adventures that are brought to you are the adventures that occur on the weekends.
As you will come to understand the reason that the Blogs are being posted so late is that after the long and arduous adventures I have no energy or desire to leave the bed let alone post the blog for you guys.
But better late then never right!?
First up is Saturday: A visit to the Spanish Dictator Franco's tomb in the Valle De Los Caidos (valley of the fallen) and a quick visit to the Escorial. Here comes the information and the photos!!
El Escorial
The Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial is a historical residence of the King of Spain, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, about 45km northwest of the capital, Madrid. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and school.El Escorial was once a monastery and a Spanish royal palace. Originally a property of the Hieronymite monks, it is now a monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine.
King Philip II of Spain, reacting to the Protestant Reformation sweeping through Europe during the 16th century, devoted much of his lengthy reign (1556–1598) and much of his seemingly inexhaustible supply of New World gold to stemming the Protestant tide.
Franco's tomb and the Valle De Los Caidos
The Valle de los CaÃdos ( "Valley of the Fallen") is a Catholic basilica and a monumental memorial in the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, erected at Cuelgamuros Valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama, near Madrid, conceived by Spanish general Francisco Franco to honour and bury those who fell during the Spanish Civil War.
The Valley of the Fallen, as a surviving monument of Franco's rule, and its Catholic basilica are controversial partly because 10% of the construction workforce consisted of convicts, some of whom were Popular Front political prisoners.
The monument precinct covers over 3,360 acres (13.6 km2) of Mediterranean woodlands and granite boulders on the Sierra de Guadarrama hills, more than 3,000 feet (910 m) above sea level and includes a Basilica, a Benedictine Abbey, a guest house, the Valley, and the Juanelos — four cylindrical monoliths dating from the 16th century. The most prominent feature of the monument is the towering 150-metre-high (500 ft) cross erected over a granite outcrop 150 meters over the basilica esplanade and visible from over 32 km away.
Before his death, nobody had expected that Franco would be buried in the Valley. Moreover, the grave had to be excavated and prepared within two days, forcing last minute changes in the plumbing system of the Basilica. Unlike the fallen of the Civil War who were laid to rest in the valley exterior to the basilica, Franco was buried inside the church. His grave is marked by a simple tombstone engraved with just his Christian name and first surname, on the choir side of the main high altar (between the altar and the apse of the Church; behind the altar, from the perspective of a person standing at the main door). We managed to get a picture of it, just above this wall of text!
FRANCO
So who is Franco and why am I carrying on about him so much? Well!
Francisco Franco Bahamonde ( 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was the dictator of Spain from 1939 to his death in 1975. Coming from a military background, he became the youngest general in Europe in the 1920s.
A conservative, he was shocked when the monarchy was removed and replaced with a democratic republic in 1931. With the 1936 elections, the conservatives fell and the leftist Popular Front came to power. Looking to overthrow the republic, Franco and other generals staged a partially successful coup, which started the Spanish Civil War. With the death of the other generals, Franco quickly became his faction's only leader.
Franco received military support from local fascist, monarchist and right-wing groups, and also from Hitler's Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Fascist Italy. Leaving half a million dead, the war was eventually won by Franco in 1939. He established an autocratic dictatorship, Francoist Spain, which he defined as a totalitarian state, installing himself as head of state and government, with one legal political party: a merger of the monarchist party and the fascist party which had helped him.
Franco established a repression which was characterized by concentration camps, forced labor and executions, mostly against political and ideological enemies, being estimated to have caused from about 200,000 and up to 400,000 deaths.
After ruling for nearly forty years, Franco died in 1975. He had restored the monarchy and left King Juan Carlos I as his successor. Juan Carlos led the transition to democracy, leaving Spain with its current political system.
***
WOAH!!! that was a lot of information ... but now you know!
COMING UP NEXT... Sunday's episode of 'NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES'
La Maliciosa
It is located in the northwest of the Community of Madrid, rising from Pedriza, which is to the east, and the valley of the Canyon, which is on its west side.I mean the name should have given up a clue, stupid horrible mountain... I mean it was lovely and all don't get me wrong and as you can see by the photo on the right we started the day off all nice and early. We began climbing the mountain by 7am with the idea that it was going to be a two hour climb to the top and another two hours back to the bottom, and we would be home by lunch time to swim in the pool and bask in the sun.
When we got there it was so cold Kyran resorted to warming his hands in his pants, or so he insisted.
On the slopes of Malice predominantly low shrublands, although there are covered areas of Scots pine. Much of this mountain is within the Regional Park of the High Basin of the Manzanares and within the National Park of Guadarrama.
I mean even wikipedia agees with my dignosis of the mountain.
"Originally, this peak was known as the "Mountain Malicious'. This is due to the difficulty has its rise, except for its northern slope. It has a fairly rugged terrain and there is a cumulative altitude higher than 1,100 meters"
By the time I was taking this photo a was already recovering from what seemed like my third heart attack, as we were so out of shape and we were only 30 minutes into our climb.
What ever Kyran was thinking when I took this photo was nothing to what he would be left thinking by the time we reached the top and even the absence of normal human thought by the time we reached the bottom and all survival instincts had kicked in.
At the beginning there were many photos and much rock gazing, there seem to be a fair amount of good examples of cross cutting and indication of slow and fast cooling of magma and possibly lava.
The principle of cross-cutting relationships states that an igneous intrusion is always younger than the rock it cuts across.
Here's a couple of photos for you to enjoy from the comfort of where ever you are with water and temperature control at your convenience.
Well guys now this is the view from the top and the photo below is the summit!!
From one day after, while I'm still sore and having horror mountain flash-backs I'm going to go with: I don't know if it was worth it!
To the left is one of the many possible ways we could have died... this unfortunate mountain goat was pinned down by falling rocked and here is were we found it's remains.
Other ways we might have died, i here you ask..?
Well i shall tell you!
1. Falling - steep slopes saw Kyran fall and only just managing to catch himself leaving a variety of scratches and bruises.
2. Exhaustion - I was rooted! Pretty sure Kyran and I were close to this type of death.
3. Dehydration - we ran out of water at the top and by the time we reach the bottom the creek began to look inviting.
4. Shitting myself to death - from drinking the water that looked so inviting.
5. Sun exposure on the bare slopes of Mount Malicious! We were super lucky that we had an early start, and then very soon after heading down the slope the sky became overcast - saving us from this obvious and rapid death.
Again the remains of one of the locals!
Below are also a bunch of photos from some of the locals that are still alive... for the time being.
In total I believe that we were hiking for approximately 9 hours. We left home at 6:30 in the morning and didn't arrive back till about 5 in the afternoon.
At which point we collapsed in in moaning piles of pain and pulsating agony in bed.
Vitamin B12 injections!!
Well that's all folks over and out
***
No comments:
Post a Comment