There is a great park in central Madrid called ” Parque del Buen Retiro” which means literally “Park of the Pleasant Retreat” The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century, when it became a public park. It has beautiful iron gates welcoming you into the expanse of the largest park in Madrid with 350 acres.

The park has numerous paths and walkways that are interconnected  which lead to interesting areas of the park.

We walked along the trail looking for the “Bosque del rescuerdo” a memorial monument. The Bosque del rescuerdo which means “Forest of remembrance” was created to commemorate the 191 victims of train bombings in Madrid on March 11, 2004. When we found the “Bosque del rescuerdo” we were moved by the simple beauty of the monument.

 

There are 192 olive trees planted in the monument to represent each person killed in the Madrid train bombings. The monument is surrounded by a channel of water with a stone border.

After seeing the monument we headed down another path to explore more of the park. Another area of the park was open with beautiful sculptured trees.

We followed the path to an area with some sculptures and a curved brick wall. The wall was very interesting and there were birds nested into holes in the wall.

We then headed towards the centre of the park. There we discovered a beautiful pond water feature with a “Palacio de Velazquez” which means crystal palace. It is used as an art gallery and can be seen across the pond. It is made of mostly glass which is why it is called  the crystal palace.

The water feature was surrounded by a large walkway with assorted vendors and facilities. There was even two police women on horse back walking through the park.

After the pond area of the park we headed towards one of the exit paths. The path brought us to beautiful walkways with flowers blooming and the sound of birds singing.

We enjoyed exploring the park and seeing the beautiful displays along the way. We finished the park walk by walking along the iron fence path to  the exit at one of the main streets.

It was a great park and well worth the walk.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dias”