Parque del Oste

We discovered Parque del Oste on the day we were doing our longest walk during our holiday in Madrid and we spent about an hour in this pleasant park.

Before the 20th century, the land that the park currently occupies was the main landfill of the city.

This arch of Roman remains was one of the first things we encountered

We started exploring the park.

quite a few people walking, but the park was still very peaceful

Good views from here, including the palace and cathedral in the distance

We then got a first glimpse of the Templo of Debod, an ancient Nubian temple that was dismantled as part of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia and rebuilt in the centre of Madrid.

The shrine was originally erected 15 km south of Aswan in Nubia. In 1960, due to the constuction of the Aswan High Damn and the consequent threat posed by its reservoir to numerous monuments and archaeological sites, UNESCO made an international call to save this rich historical legacy. The temple was donated to Spain in 1968.

It constutes one of the few works of ancient Egyptian architecture that can be seen outside Egypt.

perfect alignment

There were tree-lined avenues circling the park and then one in the middle

it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day, just right for doing this

I can't remember who this is

We took the steps down

and walked towards the fountain

and wow! the biggest rose garden I have ever seen. La Rosaleda. By now we knew that the people here love rose gardens, but the scale of this one is phenomenal

The garden was designed by Ramon Ortiz and was completed in 1955. The park covers over 32,000 sswquare metres and houses more than 20,000 roses representing around 600 different varieties.

 

Once a year the Concurso Internacional de rosas nuevas Villa de Madrid, a competition for new roses, takes place. This event attracts rose breeders from around the world who showcase their latest varieties in hopes of receiving prestigious awards.

Ornamental ponds or fountains are dotted about

and there's benches all around so that one can sit 

and admire the roses

it's endless

Each rose has a plaque informing us of the name, country and date of origin 

At the edge of the garden is the cable car station - we were looking forward to going on this, but it's abandoned - from the looks of it, quite a while ago.

One more picture of this - I just loved walking under it.