Especially during the summer months, Madrid is like a desert with temperatures up to 40 degrees C and its dryness and pollution a green refuge is much appreciated. I arrived in Madrid in August, the worst month in the summer. I decided it would be a nice idea to take my boyfriend at the time there for a romantic picnic while he was over in Madrid. Packed the bag with Tortilla Espanola, Patatas Aioli, various hams and cheese, a bottle of wine and some crusty bread. It was a rather decadent picnic sitting opposite the Estanque monument and lake, while relaxing in the shade.
In the heat of the august sun, we decided to take a boat out onto the lake and cool down a bit. It was a very fun and cliched romantic thing to do, but it was great. Unfortunately the lake was over crowded so had to make sure not to have any run ins with the other boats. It was a lovely way to pass a hot afternoon.
Asides from the Estanque there are two palaces in the park, the Velazquez Palace and the Crystal palace. The crystal palace is my favourite place, as it looks out over a lovely cool lake with a fountain and some interesting swamp trees. Its a really nice place to just cool down if you get over heated (like I did that day).
We walked out around a bit, taking some naps in the shade (well I did, he ran off everywhere like an excited 5 year old). The park is also home to a collection of fountains and statues and contains the only public sculpture in existance depicting the fall of Lucifer.
So when the Madrileñan sun gets to hot and you want some shade and greenery, the paque retiro is the perfect place to find it. However a word of warning, there are a lot of theives and dealers around in this park (the dealers are very polite though), so best to keep a guard.
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