According to Wikipedia: Pagasarri (Basque language name meaning ‘thick forest of beech’) is one of the two small mountain ranges that encloses the city of Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain and is part of the Basque Mountains. Its main peak separates the municipality of Bilbao from Arrigorriaga and Alonsotegi, and has an elevation of 673 m. It is part of a wider massif called Ganekogorta.

The refuge close to the summit is a popular destination for weekend trekkers that climb Pagasarri directly from the city streets.

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The Escorial is a vast building complex located in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, near Madrid, in central Spain.

The building is the most important architectural monument of the Spanish Renaissance. Construction of El Escorial began in 1563 and ended in 1584.

The project was conceived by King Philip II, who wanted a building to serve the multiple purposes of a burial place for his father, Holy Roman emperor Charles V; a Hieronymite monastery; and a palace.

The first architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, designed the ground plan on a gridiron scheme, recalling the grill on which San Lorenzo, the patron of the building, was martyred.

After Toledo’s death, Juan de Herrera took up work on the project. Although Herrera was influenced by the styles of Sebastiano Serlio and Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, the final product was uniquely Spanish.

The building complex, severe in its lines, has four principal stories with large towers at each corner.

Arranged within a quadrangle, the buildings include:

• the church (1582);
•  the monastery, royal palace, and college (1584);
• and the library (1592).

[via: www.el-escorial.com]

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Built on an dramatic isolated ridge, the town of Ronda is split in half by a gaping river gorge, whose sheer cliffs drop over 400 feet on three sides. The gorge is spanned by an eighteenth-century arched bridge, the Puente Nuevo, that looks like it came straight out of an adventure fantasy, while tall, picturesque houses lean from its precipitous edges.

Photograph by J Koivunen

Photograph by Andrew E. Larsen

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[via]

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