La Granja

Today Matt and I went on a day excursion with the USD program to La Granja and Segovia, like Toledo also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since today is the Catholic holiday, Corpus Christi, in Madrid, we were glad we were able to go to a nearby city where shops (mainly food vendors) would actually be open. First, we took about an hour bus ride to La Granja in Ildefonso (a town in Segovia). La Granja means “farm” in Spanish and is a royal summer palace. The students in our program were divided into 5 tour groups: 3 in English and 2 in Spanish. Matt and I joined the Spanish group as Isabel led us through the palace.

Having been to King Louis XIV’s palace of Versailles in France, I found La Granja equally fascinating especially because of the connection between the families and the architecture. If you don’t like history don’t read the rest of this paragraph… King Louis XIV “Sun King” of France built his lavish palace of Versailles in a country village, now a suburb of Paris, in 1682. He was married to Maria Theresa of Spain. They had a son named Louis, le Grand Dauphin (meaning “dolphin” in French, referring to the animal they bore on their coat of arms). He got married to Anna of Bavaria, know as Dauphine Victoire, and had a son named Felipe (Phillip) who would become King Felipe V of Spain. Felipe V was born at the Palace of Versailles in France. He grew up in Versailles surrounded by the ornate paintings, décor, furniture, and gardens that his grandfather, Louis XIV “Sun King” of France, had included in his palace. The Sun King was known for being a generous spender and a great patron of the arts. When Felipe V’s summer palace near Versailles burned down he bought a site in Spain surrounded by hunting grounds from monks in 1719. He began building a new palace and gardens modeled after Versailles in the Baroque and Rococo style. The palace started as a retreat, but became a center of royal government.

Ok, so enough with the history… It was really interesting to see the similarities between Versailles and La Granja. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take pictures inside the palace. The intricately carved wall decorations were gilded with gold, enormous detailed tapestries covered the walls, expensive paintings and portraits hung throughout every room, and many bronze fountains and statues were carefully placed throughout the various gardens. Overall, I thought the sights were beautiful and I was relieved to not have to return to the bus with vomit on it. Next stop: Segovia!

Click here to view our photo album of La Granja.

-Laila