GOING FOR A STROLL IN SOME PARKS OF THE CITY

Now that spring has just arrived I felt like writing a springly post. And what better than writing a post about parks? (The photos have been taken by myself during some of my visits to some parks in Madrid).

The Retiro Park

It is Madrid's main park. El Parque de el Retiro, is not far from the city's main tourist attractions such as the Prado Museum and is a very popular and magnificent place for a stroll. Home to several sculptures, monuments, and a boating lake, it also presents an annual book fair, and there are free concerts throughout the summer. Many local families spend their Sunday afternoons here, renting a horse-drawn carriage or paddling a rowboat in the pond. But it wasn't always this democratic, as in the 17th century only the royal family was allowed to use it privately, hosting pageants, bullfights, and mock naval battles. Only a century later did it open to the public, but even then visitors had to be formally dressed to enter.

The Royal Botanical Garden

Madrid's botanical garden was inspired by king Fernando VI and then another king, Carlos III, inaugurated it in 1781. Especially attractive are the wild roses of many hues and varieties, and the Classical Romantic Garden with a duck pond.

The Campo del Moro and the Sabatini Gardens

These gardens belong to the Royal Palace and were opened to the public in 1978 by order of the king Juan Carlos I.

The West Park

This is Madrid's best landscaped park, structured according to the style of British or naturalistic parks with great open grass spaces and copses. In the bottom half of the park we can find the Rosaleda, the rose garden. Nearby, it is possible to take the cable car or Teleférico to the Casa de Campo.

The Casa de Campo Park

Literally called the "Country House", the Casa de Campo consists of 1722 hectares and is therefore one of Europe's largest public parks. In the 16th century, king Felipe II ordered the purchase of the Vargas' country house, around which further grounds and estates were added. The park was declared the "Royal Forrest" under the reign of king Fernando VI. It suffered enormous damage during the Civil War and was finally handed over to the City Authorities in 1963. Its flora is represented mainly by Mediterranean oaks, ash groves, copses and reafforrestation areas; the fauna by a variety of birds and small mammals, rodents, and insects. It has a trade fair area, an amusement park, Madrid's Zoo and the Teleférico (cable car).

The Capricho Park

El Capricho (literally, a whim) is one of the most beautiful, charming and atractive parks in the city. Though this park is still quite unknown even to Madrid´s inhabitants. Maybe because it is not in the center of the city and it only opens on weekends.

In the XVIII century the Duchess of Osuna bought this ground. She belonged to a well known aristocratic family interested in music, arts and literature. They wanted the garden to become a place for leisure and enjoyment. The idea was to create a park where the visitor would be surprised by different small buildings and special arrangements, like a labyrinth, which would appear unexpectecly while walking in the park.

The Fuente del Berro Park

The origins of these gardens date back to 1631, when the owner of the land, the Duke of Frías, sold a large piece of property to King Felipe IV. It had a wealth of orchards and abundant water from a spring that irrigated then, which was known as the Fuente del Berro spring. In the present day, lush plant life, trees, including some age-old specimens, statues and monuments scattered throughout, as well as the summerhouses, lodges and pavilions that can also be seen from the paths, contribute to preserving the look of this late 19th/early 20th-century garden.

This park occupies 7.4 hectares, 1200 square metres of which have been used to plant certain species of plants that are easily recognised by blind people due to their touch and smell.

The Quinta de los Molinos Park

This park is the perfect place to watch the flowers blossom on the countless almond trees in spring, I was declared a Historical Park and is considered part of Madrid's cultural heritage.

And after showing you some of the parks of my city to go strolling, let me wish you a very happy spring!

Source:

http://www.esmadrid.com/

http://www.gomadrid.com/

http://www.aboutmadrid.com/

REAL MADRID FOOTBALLERS TELL YOU HOW THEY SEE MADRID

(please, pause the Ipod first)

A touristic website about Madrid has just made a film with the Real Madrid footballers telling us about this city and what they think and like about living here. Since the quality of the film is very good and perhaps some of the readers of this blog are planning to come to Madrid in short, here I leave you the video, it is 2 minutes long and you can also have it in French, Italian, German (and Spanish, of course jejeje).

It is interesting to see Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Kaká, Marcelo, Xavi Alonso and others to explain to you what to see and not to miss if you come here. I am sure they will tell you better than me! I hope it can be useful for you and you can enjoy it! 

Source:
http://www.infoesmadrid.com/

NEW AND STYLISH ANCIENT SAN MIGUEL MARKET

One of my current favourite places in Madrid to have tapas is San Miguel Market, in the centre of the city. It is one of the most ancient markets in the city and recently it has been transformed in a gourmet area, very attractive for locals and tourists.

It is located in a remarkable turn of the 20th century building which seems somewhat out of place among the stone and mortar buildings that surround it. And it is a beautiful example of iron-made architecture with a beautiful roof, columns and decoration that have been able to stand on foot. Now this ancient market has been transformed in a gourmet area.

Before it was a market there had been a church, which burnt down and was finally demolished in the times of Jose Bonaparte. Afterwards a market took place in this area. It was dedicated to fresh products, especially fish.

In 1909 the current San Miguel Market was built following the style of the markets in Paris with big glass and iron buildings. During the Civil War the market was closed but fortunately not destroyed. In 1951 it reopened selling mostly products from the areas surrounding Madrid and provided many well known restaurants with its goods like Lhardy, Casa Botin o Edelweis.

In the last year of the XXth century the activity of the market decreased and in 2003 the building was bought by a group, El Gastronomo de San Miguel, and the restructuring began. The building itself redesigned in order to maintain the historic aspects and also fulfil the needs of today.

The market is set up by means of two central mall kiosks with high tables along the place and there are 33 stands in hands of professionals that not only sell their their products, but also offer their advise to the clients. There is a flower shop, a fishmonger, a butcher, a bakery among many other stands offering all kinds of food and also kitchen utensils and even a bookstore related to cuisine. The offer is really wide: Swedish tapas, oysters, bulk fruits, cold meats, chocolates, ice creams, fresh pastas, a great variety of cheeses, handmade, organic baker’s shops, etc.

In short, it is a wonderful place to have some tapas or drink some wine or beer. A place not to be missed if you are visiting Madrid, it is really worth to step inside if you are by the Main Square (in fact, it is located just 60 meters from it). And like I was telling you in the beginning of the post, it is one of the places I love most in Madrid, really yummy!

Sources:

Spaintravelblog.com

Travellinginspain.com

Sightseeingmadrid.com

THE CENTENARY HOTEL RITZ MADRID

The Hotel Ritz Madrid celebrated last year one hundred years of history with hundreds of stories to tell. The hotel was inaugurated by king Alfonso XIII on October 2nd, 1910, to the delight of senior European leaders and the cream of the jet society homeland.

The business philosophy of the legendary hotel was and still remains faithful to the magical premise Cesar Ritz, the founder, which was: “Here we anticipate the wishes of customers”, what meant to play in a grand piano Frank Sinatra’s songs when he came to the hotel, or pleasing Cindy Crawford with white flowers every time she comes to it or having a bathrobe and slippers embroidered with the initials of Placido Domingo for every visit of him and so on…..

The Ritz Madrid is a jewel of Belle Epoque style architecture. Everything is unique about the Ritz. Tapestries, antiques, crystals, watches, noble metals, ceramics and oriental bed linen and table on the basis of best thread. In the bathrooms, products of Acqua di Parma, in the suites, an umbrella with the name of the hotel, brushes and shoe leather, embroidered bathrobes and slippers in hand with the local shield. It has 167 rooms with marble bathrooms, carpets and customs made for the hotel by the Royal Tapestry Factory, leather goods with the unmistakable rubric of Enrique Loewe or linen sheets embroidered in silk. But one of its main attractions are its spacious rooms, enlivened with the music of piano, read, drink coffee or enjoy its peaceful transfer.

From Prado Museum

Even twenty employees, dressed in pristine Pierre Balmain are responsible for keeping the silverware perfect, the 30 gold pieces, which are part of the collection’s opening day, only used for very special occasions.

LEGENDARY STORIES AND NAMES:

The list of names that includes the hotel’s Golden Book is endless. Politicians like Georges Bush, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Eva Perón, the Dukes of Windsor, Fidel Castro, Jacques Chirac, Vladimir Putin, Nelson Mandela……… Actors as Laurence Olivier, Ava Gardner (who was thrown out from the hotel because of her tendency to sex and alcohol), Richard Gere, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, Richard Burton, Orson Welles, Sophia Loren, Monica Bellucci, James Stewart, Jennifer Lopez, Harrison Ford……. Singers and musicians such as Herbert von Karajan, Placido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Sting, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson (who wasn’t allowed to come in because of taking several pets with him)….. artists and writers as Dali, Garcia Marquez…

In 1915 the Maharaja of Kapurthala and his wife, the young Spanish dancer Anita Delgado, 15 years old, visited the Hotel. The crucial meeting between a delegation of the Government of Madrid and Baron Heini von Thyssen-Bornemisza to carry over his extraordinary collection of paintings in Spain took place in the royal suite at the Ritz. Few years later, the Thyssen Museum became a reality only 100 metres from the hotel.

Yasser Arafat gave here his first press conference. Fleming, famous for his discovery of penicillin, fell in love with “callos a la Madrileña” (a Madrid typical sticky casserole of veal tripe and cheeks) and took huge portions of them to his native Scotland. Antonio Banderas took on the Ritz “yes, I do” to his first wife, Ana Leza. The princess of Monaco spent their honeymoon at the hotel, which also served as a hospital during the Civil War. Prince Charles and Lady Diana made a private visit to the hotel in 1987. And the king of Morocco didn’t want to leave when he discovered the amenities offered there. Even the king of Spain, the father of Prince Philip also used to go to the hotel to buy the international press and sometimes to the barber to give him a good cut or to have a typical Madrid stew there.

And so it goes in the legendary Hotel Ritz in Madrid, the same one in which so many legends slept one day…….

SAN GINES CHOCOLATE SHOP, A LOVELY PLACE TO HAVE A HOT CHOCOLATE WITH CHURROS

One dish that you can not miss if you come to Madrid is “hot chocolate with churros”. Spanish hot chocolate is made with dark chocolate and is thick and delicious. Chocolate and churros is a pair that you must eat together. One without the other leaves you feeling less than satisfied.

Usually Spaniards eat this dish for breakfast, but it can be enjoyed throughout the entire day, as in the merienda meal (in the afternoon) which makes it a rather versatile snack. Before dinner as an afternoon snack or maybe after dinner as a yummy dessert some hot chocolate with churros seems like a great option. Of course you can buy this dish at many of the bars or cafes, but if you really want the best, you have to go to a chocolatería.

There are several good chocolaterias in Madrid, but one of the best and most typical is CHOCOLATERIA SAN GINES.

This small shop is located in a small street next to Puerta del Sol, the centre in Madrid, in the walkway of San Ginés. This traditional chocolate shop has been in the works since 1894. In spite of its less than prominent location, a mixed crowd of locals and tourists find their way here every hour of the day.

It is an attractive space, with velvety green seats, marble tables and lots of mirrors. There is no menu because it is obvious what people are going to eat. One can order a coffee or a slice of some baked goodie sitting on the counter, but this is not why people come here. Because it is so popular, you have to expect to wait a bit for a table at any hour.

If you plan on going to the San Ginés chocolate shop you must go during the afternoon or at night because it is the only time they are open. In fact, the shop is open daily all night. So when the late nighters exit the bars and dance clubs, they all head to San Ginés to put something greasy and sweet into their empty stomachs. If you want, you can add some powdered sugar.

Here you will get a hot boiling mug of chocolate rich in flavor and color. With it you will be able to dunk the crisp and hot churros into the chocolate, which provide the perfect vehicle for delivering more richness down our gullets. The prices on this as well as their delicous cakes are very reasonable and they are great if you want to try some traditional food. And it is perfect for cold winter days!

¡Buen provecho! Bon appétit!

SPRING CAME TO THE RETIRO PARK IN MADRID

Some weeks ago I went with my friend Emily to the Retiro Park (the most famous in Madrid) and indeed we found that spring had arrived. After so long and hard winter we wanted to go outside and have contact with nature and fill our batteries with light and heat, enjoying the milder temperatures and longer days.

And since we are both very fond of photography, we took our camera with a spare battery included, so it wouldn't happen as in the last time we went to take photos to that same Park in January, one of those days when it was snowing in Madrid and we both had the misfortune of having run out of battery and that same day we decided that we should buy urgently, a battery backup, for there is nothing more frustrating than running out of it just before you thought you would take the best photo of your whole life, that one that could win the next World Press Photo contest ... .. hahaha ... .. Murphy's laws are like that, you always think that the best pictures would be those that you just were about to shoot and you could not finally do, because just at that moment ... ... you run out of battery or you filled the memory card!

But this time, fortunately, we had no problems and we do all the photos we wanted (I did about 200) until it started to get dark and the lack of light prevented us.

By the way, just a little information about this park:

The name Retiro (retreat) cames because it was a place for a pleasant and quiet retreat for the kings. It hosts a wide range of cultural, sport and leasure activities in its 1,4 km2. For instance, the annual Book Fair in Madrid is celebrated there during the second fortnight of May. This magnificient park (that you can’t miss if you can to Madrid) it is especially beautiful in autumn, though the spring suits it very well too.

And now, here is the result of that first photo shoot of the season is spring this small sample of photos that you can see here and I hope you enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed them!