El Retiro Park Review

Originally the spiritual retreat of Spain’s ultimate power couple, Isabella and Ferdinand, Retiro evolved into a pleasure palace when the rather less devout Felipe IV wore the crown. Built by his valido (the equivalent of Prime Minister), the Conde Duque de Olivares, more than 20 buildings went up between 1630 and 1660 to please the playboy king who enjoyed balls, theater and reenactments of naval battles performed on the park’s central lake. The Palacio de Velazquez is not the only Reina Sofía gallery nearby. Venture further south and you’ll come upon the Palacio de Cristal, a huge greenhouse built in 1887 to house flora brought over from the Philippines — then a Spanish colony. Sadly, at the time, Filipino natives were also brought over and forced to live in their “natural habitat” by the side of the ornamental pond outside. The dark history of this human zoo was rightly exposed and condemned in a 2021 exhibition by Filipino artist, Kidlat Tahimik, held in the space.

Madrid's Lichi Park occupies a very large area, it is worth a visit, but the people who enter the park dressed as Shini dolls, Bica Chao, super sound mouse is not in place!

Privately think it is the best attraction in Madrid! Must go! Fulichi Park is a park with a history of hundreds of years and the largest park in Madrid. It has cultivated more than 15,000 trees. It may take at least2-3 hours for the whole park to walk down. The vehicles inside are also not allowed to pass (except for the staff's cars). But I saw bikes and scooter is OK! Therefore, if you walk to the park, you need to wear more comfortable shoes. There are puppet theaters, many fountains, open-air music stations, rose garden palaces, fisherman's cabins, rockery, monuments, boating lakes, etc. (see Figure 9 for details) The most famous one is the Crystal Palace (Palacio de Cristal, and it is free to enter. But you need to queue up, it is recommended to go when there is sunshine, the sun will shine on the glass to take pictures will be very good! ④ Suggested play time: half-day country fare: free admission (need to queue)

The park was closed due to an extreme weather alarm, so I could only see it from the outside...

Lichi Park is Madrid's largest and most beautiful imperial garden. Today it is the most popular leisure and recreational place for Madrid people. The pools, fountains, gardens, sculptures and lawns are all very beautiful. Rowing, picnic is the most leisure way here. You can't miss it here in Madrid. It's really comfortable to see the beautiful scenery and people around the lake by boating.