Real Jardin Botanico

Nancy recovered from the art gallery "overdose" by ordering mineral water while Doug had a beer at a local café (yes, water, the waiter looked surprised that after looking at the menu that's all she wanted....but the art gallery does not allow any water bottle/liquid into the gallery where there is bag screening and checks in place. In Europe - no free water at the restaurants tables and no 2nd cups of coffee which are already small servings by North American standards. So dehydration can happen even during museum days.

This garden was pleasant, not the Alhambra of course but still very nice. We did not get back until after 8 pm so quick dinner and to bed.

Founded by King Ferdinand IV, the Real Jardín Botánico is two-and-a-half centuries-old, occupying 20-acres of lush terrain in the heart of Spain’s capital city. Housed in its current location since 1781 in a building designed by the same architectural team responsible for the Museo del Prado, the botanical garden was initially populated with over 2,000 specimens retrieved from all over the Iberian peninsula by botanist and surgeon José Quer. The collection has expanded to over 90,000 flowers and plants (not counting its herbarium with a literal million specimens on its own) plus an estimated 1,500 trees.

The Real Jardín Botanico has been divided into seven outdoor gardens and five indoor greenhouses. There are series of box-edged plots filled with medicinal, aromatic, and orchard-like plants arranged around fountains.Read more