I stumbled across this largely by accident as I had arrived from my day trip to Toledo earlier than…read moreoriginally planned and still had the urge to explore something new. Unlike Retiro Park and other spots, this is one more partaken by the locals of Madrid rather than the tourists like me. Because of the heat, I didn't really explore the area in full. However, it's serene and blissful in the midst of a bustling metro. It's quite the way to escape from the madness. Fortunately there is easy metro access here so it isn't hard to reach.

The decision to place one of Madrid's highways underground provided an unprecedented opportunity to…read morelocate the city of Madrid within its surroundings, achieving a greater environmental biodiversity and a city that is greener, more habitable and sustainable.

Spectacular! 14 Ha garden similar to other european peers,…read moredesigned in a romanticism-style. However it is slightly overcrowded in weekends: better to visit from monday to friday.

This stellar public swimming pool is really easily accessible by metro, being metres outside the…read moreentrance to the Lago station. The lake itself is a few metres in another direction, with nice views back towards the Palacio Real. I did have to queue to get in but it moved pretty quickly and I thought the €4.50 entry was reasonable for a one-off given the facilities but can understand another reviewer's comments that it would get expensive to swim here regularly. Changing facilities were fairly clean (apart from someone left a discarded tampon holder in a changing cubicle...srsly) and there are ample showers and toilets. There are no lockers but there is a free cloakroom and they put your bag in a little pouch so you can't see what is hanging there. I was a bit nervous about it even though there is someone sitting by it but it was fine. In fact I also forgot to hand in some of my valuables and they were sitting with my towel for about 40 mins while I swam, so it doesn't seem to be crawling with thieves (although still be cautious of course). The pool was huge and despite most people using it just for a refreshing dip I found it very easy to do some leisurely lengths, as there's loads of space and people were behaving thoughtfully. Later I realised there is a large children's pool and another almost as big outdoor pool up some stairs, which helps explain the lack of crush. It's really impressive to have all those three pools plus an indoor one. The environment around the pool is also really pleasant, there's artificial grass to sit on (no creepy crawlies!) and there's loads of hidden bits of (real) grass on the upper levels so I think it would generally be possible to find somewhere here. Overall I think this is a great place to come to cool off in Madrid, although would recommend a weekday as I imagine weekends is very busy.

Plaza de la Villa: where Madrid crammed five centuries of architecture into one cozy cobblestoned…read moresquare. Medieval tower... Check. Renaissance flair...Got it. Baroque drama...Yep. It's like history speed-dating for buildings or a architectural Pinterest board in real life. None of it matches, but somehow it works.

Plaza de la Villa was called Plaza de San Salvador & is next to Calle Mayor. There are 3…read morebeautiful historic buildings in this square. The Casa de Cisneros is from the 16th century, the Plateresque Palace & 17th century & the Baroque Casa de la Vill a headquarter of the Madrid City Council. The Plaza de la Villa was one of the main centers of medieval Madrid, given its equidistant location between the Puerta de Guadalajara and Puerta de la Vega. A statue of the sailor Don Álvaro de Bazán (1526-1588), is in the center of the square. The statue of The bronze is the work of the sculptor Benlliure , on the back of which the verses that Lope de Vega.