Madrid 20th May

Conference day, so after breakfast Paul was tied up with being at and talking for the conference so I decided to go to the nearby Botanical gardens. They didn't open til 10, so I took my time and left the hotel at about 10. It was already warm and gradually as the morning progressed it got up to 26 degrees C. It was a straightforward walk to the gardens and I arrived shortly after 10:15. This was a great time as the gardens were quiet in terms of people and noisy as they were full of birds, particularly parakeets, also there seemed to be live music coming from somewhere in the middle.
The gardens are laid out in a formal squared pattern with different areas for plants, from medicinal to bonsai and included many mature trees as the original garden dated from the 18th century.
The greenhouse area had three distinct zones, representing succulents from the Canary Islands, cacti and bromeliads and orchids. My favourite part was the ornamental and medicinal plants which were arranged around central fountains in square beds. The fountains were frequented by various birds, mainly sparrows and blackbirds. The fountains weren't up to much.
I traced the source of the live music to an area beside a duck pond (cute ducklings). The orchestra was clearly a youth band which was being put through their paces before a performance. They were very good to listen to as they had a wide range of pieces to play, some of which got your toes tapping and some of which were very Spanish. At around 12 I left the gardens and time the queue to get in was horrendous.
I overdid my walk back as I was pretty much in a world of my own and continued for about half a mile past the hotel before I realised my mistake, so I was very thirsty by the time I got back. I spent a quiet couple of hours rehydrating in the garden and reading. Paul joined me for lunch in the hotel, lovely grilled vegetables with goats cheese.Read more