Valley of the Fallen

General Fransisco Franco did things a little differently. That wasn't always popular- but let's not go there. One thing I have learned though, is that he has certainly left an impression here:


Bienvenidos a El Valle De Los Caidos (Welcome to The Valley Of the Fallen). This place took 19 years to build and was designed on a scale equal to 'the grandeur of the monuments of old, which defy time and forgetfulness' according to Franco.























It is essentially a mountain with a grand entrance way on one side, a monastery on the other, a vast basilica bored through the middle that connects the two, and the most prominent feature of the monument; a towering 150-meters-high (500-feet) cross erected over a granite outcrop 150 meters over the basilica esplanade and visible from over 20 miles away. Basically the biggest cross in the world.


10% of the workforce for this place were convicts, and many people were worked to death building this. Now it serves as a memorial to all those 'fallen', including, somewhat controversially, Franco himself, whose tomb is now housed inside the basilica.