[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
Given the size of Madrid I decided that I’d just start in the middle and use the Wikipedia app to find some sites of local interest. One of the first that it came up with was the Muslim Walls, which date to around the ninth century and originally protected the palace and mosque.
The walls have been uncovered recently following archaeological investigations, and this section is located at the base of Madrid Cathedral.
There’s a plan of the walls which gives some basic context.
A plan of how the central area of the city used to look.
The original Muslim walls, which had survived because they were used as supporting walls for later buildings placed on top of them.
The walls are some of the earliest remaining pieces of defensive stonework surviving in Madrid.
The park at the base of the walls seemed to be closed when I looked at it, which seemed a shame given that it was such a well designed and clean location. However, I was fortunate that I visited on a Sunday, as this is apparently the only day that the park opens.
The plants and trees in the gardens were well tended (I don’t know much about this really, but they just looked organised) and they had information in Spanish and English about what they were. This is apparently a hackberry tree.
And apparently this is a cypress tree.
This is an olive tree, although I might have guessed this one without the label as there are olives growing on it….
The park’s central fountain.