October 31, 2022: We have always loved the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo. Seeing it performed live with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra some years ago cemented our fascination with the idea of Aranjuez, so naturally, we had to go there. Aranjuez is the home of a royal palace and beautiful gardens, and is a short train ride away from Madrid. Unfortunately, the palace is closed on Mondays, and that’s when we visited, so our tour was limited to the gardens. That was more than enough – it was beautiful. We listened to the Concierto on our headphones as we wandered through the gardens.
Our last breakfast at our beloved Brown Bear Bakery in Madrid.
Arriving in Aranjuez
The Jardin del Principe was huge and we had lots of room to stroll among the plane trees.
Blooming flowers were gone, but the leaves were still mostly on the trees.
Estatua del fauno in the garden.
A flower garden past its prime.
The Tagus River flows through Aranjuez on its way to Lisbon
Swans on the Tagus
A decoration in the Jardin del Parterre, the second of three gardens we visited.
Fountain in the Jardin del Parterre – in front of the royal palace.
A portion of the royal palace.
Strawberry tree. See words in next picture.
This explains that the strawberry tree is part of the symbol of the city of Madrid, along with the brown bear.
More palace gardens.
A last splash of color.
We visited a third garden – the Jardin de la Isla. As we walked in they were turning off the fountains. It felt like they were saying goodbye.
Canary cage.
The canaries!
Another view of the canary cage.
Elaine listening to birds singing in the sycamore tree, dreaming a little dream of me.
Peacocks in the garden.
Return to Madrid.
