Page 54 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2022 DISCOVERING MADRID

lazquez Palace, a former exhibition hall topped
with a glass and iron dome and decorated with
colorful tiles. It now houses temporary art ex-
hibits. And we marveled at the oldest tree in
Madrid, a Montezuma bald cypress said to date
from the 1600s.
While the popular park draws crowds, it is re-
markably clean and litter free. We watched in
awe as a mother walked her two children to a
trash can to deposit ice cream wrappers. Monu-
ments are graffiti free too. All is perhaps a testa-
ment to Madrilenos respect for this glorious
green space in the midst of a bustling city.
We picked another cloudless but cool day to
visit Madrid's beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens
, steps from the Prado Museum. Compared to our
first attempt to enter on a popular holiday week-
end, this time only a modest line of garden lovers
waited to buy tickets to explore the 20-acre gar-

54 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022