Today we took a 20 minute bus ride and our time was spent at a Spanish royal glass factory established in 1728 near the summer palace of King Philip V in San Ildefonso.  The factory was established with the objective of providing the palace with all the necessary glass to furnish it, mostly windows, mirrors and chandeliers. The glassworkers were initially foreigners; the main stylistic influence was, as in earlier Spanish glass, that of Venice.  As with many buildings from that period, it fell into ruins and little use but in 1982 it was transformed into a museum and a school for glass work but they retained the majority of the original look.  Here is a link for more information:
http://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/granja/granja.htm

We spent an hour touring the building and were able to see how glass was made in the past and an exhibition of what modern artists are doing to create art with glass.  I am sure everyone got a lot of great photos.

When we finished we walked over to see the palace mentioned above and were given a nearly 90 minute tour of the palace and then walked around the fountains behind it.  The palace is home to a collection of tapestries that have immeasurable fortune due to their size, age, historic significance and materials: they are interwoven with gold and silver.

Information on the palace

We were not fortunate enough to see the fountains run yet but we will try next week.