El Escorial, 2

Continuing our 2017 visit to El Escorial...

Now we are in the first floor of the immense two-story cloister; no view into
the cloister, however

Ceiling over grand staircase

Painter explaining ceiling painting to royalty

Now we are in three large halls with paintings; there are scores/ hundreds of
paintings at El Escorial but only these few are displayed, labeled; here, a very
giant El Greco

Penultimate Supper; looked like rabbit to us

Architectural archives

Now in the royal mausoleum; infant mortality very high in those days

Gloomy staircase leading down to the crypt where the Biggies are buried; I had
hoped to get pix of the tombs of Phil II and particularly Charles V, but the guard
there was all business and no cell phone to be distracted by

Take a picture of the tiles, she said

Now in the Bourbon section of the palace; a meeting room for dignitaries done
in the most atrocious mustard/Gothic ever

The best thing about our visit to El Escorial was meeting up with the travel
book/map  distributor, Philip, who supplied us with the much-needed 8th edition
of the Portuguese El Camino book we had sought in Madrid; after coffee with
him and hiswife and son, we took his advice for a stroll in a park near El Escorial

Another good thing: this Bosch board game in the gift shoppe!Only  a single panel
of any Bosch was in view in the palace/monastery, and it was unlabeled...

El Escorial in our rear-view mirror; isn't there a CW song about this?  headed for
Avila