Aranjuez, the town immortalised in one of my favourite pieces of music, The Concerto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo. I was hoping it would be a beautiful town full of beautiful buildings and colourful flowers. I wanted it to be a very special place that I could associate with the music whenever I listen to it in the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPcjtg6FvX8
We checked in to Camping Internacional for three nights and the campsite proved to be the best so far on this trip. The showers had mixer taps, good pressure and hot water that travelled in the right direction, ah heaven. Two plots down from us a giant campervan came in, complete with a Smart Car on a trailer. It made Eileen look very small and we had a good giggle when the owner drove his Smart Car only seventy metres to the amenities block to empty his waste cassette. I wonder how he manages to walk from one end to the other inside his huge van ….! It hadn’t taken us long to drive down from Madrid and it was a hot sunny day, so we spent the afternoon giving Eileen a bit of clean; well she did have posh neighbours to impress……
On Wednesday morning it was time to investigate Aranjuez. We cycled the short distance in to town and then had to contend with the enormous mess of road works. What should have been a wide expanse of roundabouts, fountains and the Plaza de Santiago Rusiñol were all being dug up, all at the same time; goodness knows why they weren’t doing a small section at a time. The poor cafes and restaurants had temporary footpaths fenced around them and the noise and dust made it an area not to hang around in. Cycling on a few more blocks, we found a café away from all the dust and pneumatic drills. We ordered four long, fat, porra churros and two cups of thick dark hot chocolate and spent the next thirty minutes dipping and drinking this disgustingly delicious Spanish snack.
The Mercado was next door, so we nosed around inside looking for more weird and wonderful seafood and smelly cheeses, then we climbed back on our bikes and cycled all around Aranjuez. Sadly, it’s not the most exciting town, but it’s pleasant and very leafy. There are avenues of huge horse chestnut trees fanning out from some lovely squares and the exterior of the palace is rather gorgeous. We’re getting the feeling that in Spain everything marked out on maps as a garden or park, even the formally laid out ones, always turns out to be just hedges and trees. There is very little in the way of flower displays; not like the stunning places we’ve seen in France, but then it is a lot warmer here and the Spaniards obviously love their trees and shady parks for walking in. It was nice to find the small Jardin de Isabel II which was full of low trimmed hedges containing beds of yellow, beautifully perfumed, roses, all set around a central pond with a statue of the princess on a pedestal.
We cycled around the Palacio Real and then along the Calle de la Reina for 2.5kms heading east. Annoyingly we had to stay on the outside of the long wall of the Jardin del Principe; unfortunately no cycling is allowed under the trees of the park. We took a peek at the Casa del Labrador, the quirkily named ‘Workers Cottage’ which was more of a rather fancy, miniature palace, I’d like to know how many workers really lived there?
Back at Eileen, after dining on tomatoes and mozzarella liberally sprinkled with balsamic and olive oil, we snoozed by the swimming pool and both managed a rather chilly quick swim before dinner. The evening’s entertainment was our first game of Scrabble for this trip and for the record (he wants it noted) Rodney was the winner.
We kept busy on Thursday morning with lots of ‘catch up stuff’ then walked into Aranjuez along the edge of the Rio Tajo through the Park Principe. The tree lined avenues really are wonderful in the heat of the day. We cooled down with ice creams, sitting in the Plaza de Parejas and then strolled across to the Royal Palace entrance. Dawdling through endless rooms of fancy decoration, it all started to feel a bit repetitive, but then we found ourselves in the Arabian Room. Crikey!! It’s a reproduction of a room in the Alhambra in Granada and it is quite amazing; sadly no photos are allowed and the postcards they sell just don’t do it justice, so I’m trying to hang onto the vision of the colours and shapes. The Oriental Porcelain room is also worth seeing, but more for its shock of how weird it is!?
Back outside, we wandered around the Jardin del Parterre and the Jardin de la Isla. Finally, some colour and some fountains that were flowing, it was lovely. Our next stop was back through the Prince’s Garden to the Casa de Marinos, the Sailors House, this is where they keep a number of falúas, the very decorative launches that used to ferry the royal family on trips along the river. Again, no photos allowed and nowhere to buy postcards, so that’s another one for the memory.
After nearly four hours of strolling we were ready to freshen up, settle in for the night, and make our plans for moving on to Toledo in the morning. It had been a relaxing time in Aranjuez and now when I listen to the concerto, I will know what Mr Rodrigo was visualising when he wrote that beautiful music.
