“The Best Park in the World”
As we reached our last day in Madrid and another train journey loomed, we left our Air BnB for our final afternoon under sunny skies and excitedly set off for El Retiro. We had discovered this oasis of activity and tranquillity on our last visit to Madrid and were eager to go and explore again.
Walking the 20 minutes, past the Prado, we entered through the Felipe IV gateway and headed straight for the lake. This artificial lake, on which you can hire rowing boats, is overlooked by the monument to Alfonso XII of Spain and features a semicircular colonnade and an equestrian statue of the monarch on the top of a tall central core. Visitors splay themselves on the steps of the monument and across the colonnades so getting a tourist free photo is never easy.
There are various food outlets scattered about the circumference of the lake but we head off in an ante clockwise direction just taking in the ambiance, watching the efforts of the rowers, enjoying the sun’s rays and an afternoon stroll.
Taking a short break I click off a photo of a wide walkway surrounded by benches for no other reason than to show how clean the place is. There is no litter!
In fact the pride of the Madrilenos in their city is part of what heightened its appeal to us on our first visit. The park is filled with statues, fountains, commemorative monuments and well kept grass and flower beds. There are so many benches to sit on or patches of grass to lie on, you can take a picnic, read a book or just watch the world go by. It’s safe, there is no intimidation, there are no vagrants or homeless people.
From the lake we head off to the two existing buildings in the park that normally house one off exhibitions: the Velazquez Palace and the Crystal Palace. Neither current exhibitions appeal to us but it’s lovely to sit by the Crystal Palace lake and admire the central fountain whilst watching the terrapins on the lake’s edge vie for the best position to sunbathe in!
Our final stop is the Rose Garden, created in the 1930’s and 1940’s and a beautiful place to stop when the roses are in full bloom as they were when we visited in May last time. It’s too early this year so we find ourselves another fountain to sit beside, dig out our books from our rucksack and forget about the world for an hour.
We have been fortunate to visit Hyde Park in London, Central P:ark in New York, City Park in New Orleans amongst others and El Retiro beats them all for us. There is no doubt we will return not only to Madrid but to El Retiro probably in time for the roses to bloom next year.
NB:
This is my sixth contribution detailing our tour of Western Europe. Why not check out all the previous posts and follow us as we learn more about this fascinating area of the world?
A Midlife Adventure 