Well you know by now that every great city has a river! Yes , and Madrid is no exception even if not right down the middle is life to the city. It has been given more protagonism in the landscape of clean Madrid with the creation of Madrid Rio. Frankly, I was not too excited about it at first but by now its all welcome! Beautiful job and wonderful to be in walking it is sublime even in Summer! All along the Manzanares river of Madrid! Let me update this older post for you and me, and bear with me as try to put all in one post…
Madrid Río is a linear park of 1,210,881 square meters, yes all along the Manzanares river, where you will find gardens, sports activities, activities for children and even what they call the beach, with water jets. Through the Manzanares River and its 9 dams, by the margins of the Manzanares river for a good stretch is underground the beltway road M-30, from the south roundabout to the connection with the road A-5. There are 33,623 new trees, 470,844 shrubs and 210,898 square meters of low grassland. Six landscaped areas: Gardens of Aniceto Marinas, Paseo de la Virgen del Puerto , Segovia Bridge, Toledo Bridge, Matadero and Arganzuela Park; The boulevard of the avenue of Portugal, 30 km of paths for cycling, 33 sports tracks for skating, skateboarding, climbing, football, futsal, paddle tennis, tennis and basketball. 17 playgrounds for children and Madrid Rio swings, 7 petanque courts, 12 game tables, 3 platforms for cultural events, 63 drinking fountains, 637 bicycle forks, 33 overpasses and bridges, 13 ornamental fountains, climbing wall and an urban beach with three water enclosures in the Arganzuela Park.
From city center the Príncipe Pío metro station lines 6 and 10. Behind the Puerta de San Vicente there are some stairs that will take you to the Madrid Rio . Another option would be, once you leave the metro, walk along the Paseo de la Florida until you reach the Puente Reina Victoria Bridge and so you can see Madrid Rio from the beginning .We took it from Legazpi on bus 46 and walk all along the Manzanares river! Paseo de la Chopera and Paseo de las Yeserias to the Glorieta de las Piramides to take metro line 5 back .Wonderful!!
The Manzanares River sits on a 69-kilometer basin that begins at 2,258 meters of altitude in the Sierra de Guadarrama, and ends at the Jarama River at 527 meters above sea level. In its route it receives water from more than thirty streams and coexists with different types of infrastructure, some that are its own as bridges, dams and reservoirs, and others that cross or limit it, such as roads, railways and conduits. What we liked most to discover were the bridges and viewpoints of the Madrid Rio, the vast majority with incredible views. Some examples are the Segovia Bridge or the Puente del Rey or King’s Bridge. The viewpoint of the Huerta de la Partida is also impressive, from where you can see a magnificent perspective of the historic sky line of Madrid, including monuments such as the Royal Palace or the Almudena Cathedral. Another is the viewpoint of the Glorieta de San Vicente, with its panoramic view of the Casa de Campo, the boulevard of the Avenida de Portugal, and the Sierra de Madrid itself. From the terrace viewpoint of the monumental bridge of Arganzuela you will see the Toledo bridge and the new Arganzuela park with the urban beach. What they call the Playa del Madrid Rio is an aquatic space of more than 6,500 m2 where the small and not so small can be soaked with high-altitude water jets that are also capable of producing different effects and clouds of water spray .
The linear superstructure of the Salon de Pinos is the element that organizes the continuity of routes along the right bank of the river. It is built on the tunnels in its entirety and has an average width of thirty meters. On the concrete slab that covers the passage of cars, more than 9,000 units of different pine species, of various sizes, shapes and clusters have been planted with a forest plantation framework. Two symbolic examples of this intersection are the historic bridges of Segovia (1582) and Toledo (1732).
The Puente de Segovia bridge was built at the end of the 16C, commissioned by king Felipe II. The landscaping project of its surroundings is an exception in the area of the Salon de Pinos or Pine Hall, constituting a widening of it and offering a different approach to the river. The gardens are arranged through a series of organic trace lines that model successive terraces that descend towards the river. Two clean water ponds have been built on which, on the one hand, a monumental fountain of 16 water jets with a cypress shape rises and on the other a small garden of water lilies. The ponds are accessible by stone steps that approach them until they submerge.
The gardens of the Puente de Toledo bridge constitute one of the most significant areas of the Madrid Río Project, since they are located in an enclave of exceptional importance in which the Salon de Pinos or Pine Hall meets one of the monumental bridges of Madrid, the Puente de Toledo, built between 1718 and 1732.
The Esplanade of the King, an open esplanade paved with a large figurative pattern and serves as a great atrium before the Casa de Campo. The Huerta de la Partida (orchard), which is a closed enclosure in which different reticles of fruit trees (pear, apple, mulberry, pomegranate, fig, walnut, hazelnut, etc.) have been planted host an extraordinary viewpoint of the cornice. The Avenidad de Portugal, turned into a boulevard paved by Portuguese bricks and populated by four cherry species allows the contemplation of a spectacular flowering that It lasts more than a month in spring. Finally, the gardens of La Virgen del Puerto, on the other side of the river, structured through the arrangement of flower beds oriented along the axes of the main urban events in the area: the Segovia bridge, the Puente del Rey or King’s bridge, Avenida de Portugal and the Puerta del Rey (king’s gate) that has been restored. The Esplanada del Rey or King’s esplanade, which is an open space with an area of approximately 14,000 m2 and a parallel front of the river of just under 250 meters. The destination of this space is to form a stage capable of hosting different civic manifestations (concerts, official celebrations, cultural activities, etc.) in an environment of extraordinary environmental quality, which allows all to contemplate the Historic center of Madrid. This place is connected to the Salon de Pinos and is part of it, although due to its use, it is an area almost devoid of trees.
The Huerta de la Partida is again, the planting of different fruit tree clusters (pomegranates, mulberry trees, apple trees, pear trees, hazelnuts, almond trees, fig trees, olive and walnut trees) that are incorporated into the environment subtle orientation variations. Finally, a wet estuary has been projected that describes the trajectory of the arroyo de Meaques stream, currently piped and hidden, since in the past, when king Felipe II acquired this farm after establishing the capital of Madrid, in this position some orchards were planted that produced the necessary food for the workers of the Casa de Campo. It is now canalised into the Casa de Campo.
The new Arganzuela Park, built on old pastures of grass for communal use. In this environment the Municipal Slaughterhouse was built (matadero see post), a notable example of post-industrial architecture of the second decade of the 20C. Among the existing bridges stands out the operation carried out with the seven dams that have been converted into pedestrian walkways through its integral restoration and the incorporation of an accessible wooden board. Secondly, in this series, the recycling of the M-30 road bridge that crossed the river south of the Segovia Bridge, converted into a pedestrian and cycling bridge that incorporates a slope planted with pine trees. Among the unique bridges it is worth mentioning the Y-shaped bridge built with metal profile drawers, which evokes the language of the railway bridges of the 19C hanging on the forest gorges and the twin concrete bridges that are given access to the Matadero complex (see post), projected as passage elements capable of also configuring a space that is entered, such as pavilions that gravitate on the river, but that truly belong to the park . It is worth mentioning the Pasarela de Almuñécar, Puente Oblicuo (oblique), Puente del Principado de Andorra, Puentes Cáscara (peels) y Pasarela de la Princesa. The seven dams that regulate the river as it passes through the city have been restored and placed at the service of the new cross-pass system. Its mechanisms and levies have been repaired and an accessible wooden board and fish scale have been incorporated to favor the continuity of underwater fauna along the river. Incredibly beautiful!!! You can spent hours here and its all free.
The Madrid tourist office on Madrid Rio: https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/madrid-rio-park
There you go folks, long but worth it me think. Easily spent a day walking and seeing all in Madrid Rio; hope you enjoy it as from Madrid to heaven and a hole in the sky to look down on it every day! Madrid Rio is it, I shall return!
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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