118. La Granja

Tuesday was the worst weather day of the trip, dark skies and heavy outbursts of rain, but there were enough breaks in the rain to make the day salvageable. We headed north to Segovia, stopping first at another royal palace, at La Granja. By the 1700's Spain had ceased doing anything important like saving Europe's soul, and the ruling class could settle down and spend what was left of their riches on nice baubles and palaces rather than wars and inquisitions. Unlike the austere Escorial palace, La Granja is clearly a baroque building, modeled, like most palaces of the time, on Versailles.