We spent a few wonderful hours in the glorious gardens of El Retiro. Situated in the museum district, it has gardens, monuments, an artificial lake and event-hosting venues. It's quiet and contemplative during the week but comes to life on weekends.
We visited on a weekday.
There is, of course, a Rosaleda, a rose garden - we are in Madrid, after all.
We arrived at the Forest of Remembrance (Bosque del Recuerdo), a memorial monument to commemorate the 191 victims of the 2004 Madrid train bombing.
The low, artificial hill, planted with cypresses, is surrounded by water
and two bridges so that you can walk around the monument
We took the circular path that leads to the top
and soon reached it
We then went on to explore the rest of the park
green and lush, with lots of water all around
little bridges to get across
and tiny weirs/waterfalls all over the place
We got to the south of the park with its extensive grassed up areas where people sat or lay enjoying the sunshine
I remember we stopped here for a while, sat on a bench, and looked all around us
And then, suddenly, we reached the focal point of El Retiro's life
the artificial lake which is watched over by the massive ornamental structure of the Monument to Alfonso XII - a semicircular colonnade and an equestrian statue of the monarch on top of a tall central core
some quite large fish
We sat here and had some lunch
After lunch we decided to explore the lake and we started walking towards the Monument to Alfonso XII
Lots of people sitting around the lake. This scene strongly reminded me of Seurat's Un Dimanche Apres-Midi a l'Ille de la Grande Jatte
which is quite magnificent
From here we could see the place where we had lunch
We walked around for a while
and then headed towards the main gate
it's quite a magnificent entry to the park
we exited by the Puerta de Alcala.
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