Philip II began the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in 1563 and it was finished in 1584, a short time for a building of its size. It sits on the southern slope of the Sierra de Guadarrama, about fifty kilometres north-west of Madrid, and the two towns beside it, San Lorenzo de El Escorial and El Escorial, are small, tidy and slightly prosperous, living partly off the building that gave them their name.
The king wanted something unusual: a monastery, a royal palace, a basilica, a library and a family tomb in one block. The architect Juan Bautista de Toledo drew up the first plans, and after his death in 1567 Juan de Herrera took over and gave the place its severe, plain, almost military look in grey granite. Nothing is ornamental for its own sake. Tradition links it to the victory over the French at Saint-Quentin in 1557, won on the feast of Saint Lawrence, which is why the monastery carries his name and why the gridiron on which he is said to have been martyred recurs in its imagery. Inside, the Pantheon of the Kings holds the Habsburg and Bourbon monarchs, and the library has a painted ceiling and shelves of manuscripts. The paintings include work by El Greco, Titian and Velázquez.
The ride up from Madrid is easy but not especially exciting, via the A-6 and then the M-505, or you can come by the quieter M-600 from Guadarrama. Better riding starts once you head out of town. The Puerto de la Cruz Verde and the road towards Robledo de Chavela offer fast bends through pine and oak woodland, and the climb up to the Silla de Felipe II, a group of granite blocks where the king reputedly sat to watch the work, gives a view over the whole complex. Autumn is lovely, with golden ash and chestnut trees, but this is high ground, at around a thousand metres, so winter mornings bring frost and sometimes snow. Summer weekends are crowded, and parking near the monastery is awkward.
Fuel and food are no problem. San Lorenzo has about eighteen thousand people, several petrol stations and plenty of restaurants, and the cafes around the square are the place for a long lunch. Go on a weekday, arrive early, and leave time for the gardens, which are free to wander and look over open country.