We headed out to meet our bus for the tour to other parts of Spain. The meeting spot was in the underground parking lot at the Plaza de Oriente. When the taxi dropped us off at the location we saw a beautiful square and the Royal Palace. We were about 30 minutes early so we took the opportunity to take a look around.

The Royal Palace is the official residence for the Spanish Royal Family, however it is only used for administration and Royal functions.

We took a walk around the gardens and square looking at the architecture and garden. There was some amazing architecture and the Royal Palace is a massive building.

 

The Royal Palace was an impressive building, however we did notice that some of the exterior was needing some maintenance and repairs. The windows were old and the paint was pealing off in places, it was obvious that maintenance has been neglected in parts of the Palace.

When we arrived at the tour meeting point we registered with our tour guide and climbed aboard the fairly new coach bus.

The bus tour will take us through Córdoba, Rhonda, Seville, and a few other towns before returning back to Madrid. We are off and on our way, hopefully it is a great time….

“Adios y que tenga un grand dias”

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”

The royal botanical gardens in Madrid is located in the center of the city. We were able to easily walk to the royal botanical gardens and enjoy the beautiful gardens.

There were lots of different plants and trees in a beautiful setting of pathways and fountains. There were some Species that date back over two centuries. It was very impressive.

We enjoyed a leisurely walk through the gardens looking at the vast array of plants, and flowers. Some of the ones we really enjoyed were the tulips which were in full bloom now.

There were also flowering trees in the garden that not only looked beautiful but also smelled great. It is too bad we can’t put the smell and sounds in the blog. There were birds singing throughout the entire time we were there. It was very nice and relaxing.

The walkways and trails were beautiful and made an enjoyable walk.

 

One of the interesting trees we found during our walk was this Kiwi tree. We have never seen a Kiwi tree before.

we took our time walking through the gardens and enjoyed the beautiful smells, sounds and scenery of the gardens. It was truly a beautiful spot.

“Adios y que tenga un grand dias”