The lovely man-made lake, the Lago de Retiro or ‘El Estanque’ as it is called by Madrilenos is perhaps the central and most popular part of El Retiro Park. Everyone seems to navigate automatically to this part of the park, from the locals to tourists to vendors and mime artists.
Canoes and row boats are rented out here and although we did not do the boat ride—Blondine doesn’t like the idea anyway, we enjoyed walking around and doing some sightseeing. The lake has plentiful of fishes in it as well. I believe of the ‘carp’ variety. I was actually quite surprised to see the fishes!
And naturally we must not leave without souvenir shots =). I already have a few souvenir shots 6 years ago but this was during my pre-digital travelling phase so the pictures were crap. This time I took lots but not really sure if I was happy with them. It was scorching hot and I did not have the patience to search for the golden angle photo opportunity when the sun is digging into my skin.
Beside the beautiful lake is an outdoor restaurant. There are a few vendor kiosks around the lake as well selling ice cream and drinks which are a necessity when its above 30C.
Coming next… a symphonic orchestra concert at the park.
Travel Period: June 2011
Destination: Madrid, Spain
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Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)