Roses

Sorry for the radio silence. I took a trip to the capitol of Switzerland and I brought back a cold. I am in the mist of selecting from the hundreds of wonderful photos that we have of Bern and while I am doing that, I will share with you a little from the many pictures I took of the Rosaleda in El Parque del Buen Retiro here in Madrid. I took them as virtual flowers for a good friends birthday and mother's day, but there is n reason that I can not share them with you. If you are in or plan to visit Madrid soon go to the rose garden soon!

Spring is here

I have blog block, and more pictures of London and Barcelona to show you, but first I am going to post in real time. Today, my beloved and I had a picnic at Parque Quinta de los Molinos because the almonds are in full bloom, and there has been no rain. If you are in Madrid, you need to go to that park ASAP. It is a magical land, and a great place for a picnic.

If you want to know more about the park you can see my previous posts here and here.

More London and Barcelona photos coming soon, plus this weekend I leave for Montpellier, France!

A day in Retiro

A many of you might know Madrid has a huge park in the center, kind of like Central Park in New York City. Javi and I do not go there often enough.  We went a week or so ago to try and catch the last vestige of the fall color.

I also wore the saddle-shoulder cabled cardigan I had made almost three years ago in hopes of getting better pictures of it. I am not sure that they are the best photos ever, but it was fun to play model in the park. The pattern I roughly followed is the Aran Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman, it is the January pattern in the knitters Almanac. I need to try putting in the zipper again, because it does not sit right. The sweater is a little large on me, but full of cabley goodness. For those of you with a Ravelry account my project notes are here. (Click to enlarge)

We decided we wanted to go to the Crystal Palace next to see what was exhibited there. There is always an exception, and they are always strange, and free. The Palacio Crystal is an elegant structure made out of glass. According to my quick internet search it was "It was built in 1887 to exhibit flora and fauna from the Philippines." It is an elegant piece coved with frescos.

And the pond it sits behind is always elegant, especially in the fall.

 The exhibit took us several minutes to figure it out, we finally had to go and get a pamphlet explaining the exhibit. The "piece" is the walk way shown below. The purpose was to elevator the walker to see a different view of the place that had never been seen before. It was great fun to hear the comments that people were making. Especially the older Spaniards.

Have you been to Retiro park in fall?

Carmen de los Mártires - Granada

Any of you who know me in person know that I LOVE the Romantic style of gardens. My favorite garden in the world is Parc del Laberint d'Horta in Barcelona (previous blog post link), and I am afraid that I compare all romantic gardens, even the Generalife of the Alhambra to the Parc d'Horta  So when my husband said that there was a Romantic style park right by the Alhambra, we made a point to see it. I loved it so much, I am going give it a post of it's very own.

You are greeted at the gate by this dripping grotto 

 The park is called,Carmen de los Mártires and it is located within a 10 minute walk from the front gates of the Alhambra. If you love gardens, do not miss the chance to see this one. "Los Mártires" means "the Martyrs" and according to this article it (I roughly translate) "...The place from which Boabdil left to hand over his beloved city to Christians. (Queen) Isabella built a chapel at the site in memory of that day. Later she built a convent and, on its ruins, a small palace. " The same article also goes on to describe the gardens like this: "...Pieces of history, splendor and ruin, ordered chaos. Garden, kitchen garden, island, lake, courtyard, a garden of gardens." Which I think is a beautiful way to describe a romantic style garden.

I must own a light like that one day

If for some reason you can not get tickets to the Alhambra, you could enter in the small courtyard in this Palace to get an idea of the splendor.

The courtyard

Romantic style gardens give the wonderful feeling of old grandeur, of simple lines marked here and there with pieces of exquisite detail.

A serene "room" in the garden

Click to enlarge, this door is beautiful

The little boxwoods formed tiny mazes!

A Madroño, one of the symbols of Madrid

Palms with a distant peek of the mountains

This garden was also on a hill and afforded beautiful views of the city and the distant mountains.

Another view of the city, a view of another lookout point

 What is a romantic garden without an ornamental river? It was feed by a working aqueduct! 

For a while we had an honor guard as we walked

 One of my favorite things about these types of gardens is the contrast. Around the house the gardens are highly structure and manicured, but there is always an area more natural where one can just walk at peace.

There are grand entryways where you can almost see the past's guest in their finery.

You can come across little surprises in these gardens too.

If you have two or more hours to spare and you like gardens and parks you will not want to miss this one. Have you been here before?