Convent, palace and pantheon – the eighth wonder of the world

The Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial or simply El Escorial. Built under Philip II and in many ways his artistic testament. From the beginning it was celebrated as the eighth wonder of the world. Due to its dimensions, its enormous construction costs, its almost brutal, disorganized architecture, its impressive location at more than 1,000 meters above sea level, in the middle of the Sierra de Guadarrama and extensive pine forests.

To this day, visitors are dazzled by its 92-meter-high basilica, the Royal Palace, the impressive library and the no less impressive Pantheon of the Kings, the last resting place of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties.

The excursion to the Sierra not only offers the possibility of admiring this unique monumental complex. It also allows you to enter the very personal world of Philip II and discover quite unknown facets of this monarch. And all this surrounded by a magnificent landscape just 60 km away from Madrid.

City of three religions

Toledo, one of the oldest cities in the Iberian Peninsula and at the same time center of Moorish architecture. Its buildings bring the splendor of “multicultural Toledo” back to life. Plaza del Zocodover, Cathedral, Jewish Quarter, Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes – the ideal setting to discover Muslim history, Archbishop San Ildefonso, the Visigoth traces, the powerful Jewish financier Samuel Levy, the transformations under the Catholic Monarchs, the fascinating figure of El Greco.

We discover Toledo with all its artisan traditions such as sword making, the damascene technique and of course its most famous culinary specialty: marzipan. And all this enlivened with anecdotes and legends from ancient times, about Visigothic kings, Muslim caliphs, famous thieves, supposedly blind painters and much more.