Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Extensive gardens west of the Royal Palace. Their name comes from the legend or fact, I know not which, that a Moorish army camped here in the 12th century.

A curiosity if ever there was one, the Olivar de Castillejo or Olivar de Chamartín is an old olive grove in the north of Madrid, surrounded by housing and threatened by development. Napoleon stayed there in 1808, and signed a famous decree abolishing the Spanish Inquisition. It was bought by a group of Spanish intellectuals at the beginning of the last century, and still belongs to the Fundación Olivar de Castillejo.

Madrid's best known ornamental gardens, behind the Prado Museum. The link goes to an old article of mine.

One of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, founded in 1755, Madrid's Royal Botanical is just next to the Prado Museum and well worth taking the time out to explore. It has been through the wars, so to speak, but is now a national treasure and a joy to visit, with too many species to begin to count, particularly from Spain and the Americas.