Madrid Río
Madrid Río is a pedestrian area longing the Manzanares in Madrid combining sportive and leisure areas with modern architecture (mainly as far as bridges and paths are concerned). It is a great addition to Madrid since the area used to iconic of its desolation [2] and mark, by way of highways, the frontier with the poorer neighborhoods. Now, it is a fantastic and modern park which could almost compete with el Retiro.
It is a quite recent addition, with works from 2006 till 2011. Although overall a success, it has some immediate drawbacks. The poor river itself, for instance, has lost most of the appeal we can find it in the mountains, where it can be stunning (not always). Unfortunately, beside being black like oil, the water can also be smelly at times. Also, while there are regular stands where you can get a drink or even quite decent Spanish food, the accompanying toilets do not seem to be able to cope with the public that such a place can accommodate.
But the urban planning compensates. The landscape changes swiftly, it's never boring to walk, and there are fun areas like the "urban beach" where open fountains welcome people for a bath into playful stream of water. There's lot of green grass where sunbathers can find more room than on any summer plage, and, something extremely important for animal lovers, dogs can apparently be left to stroll unattached. There are a lot of bikes but they are clearly given the lowest priority and for most of the time can be kept quite apart anyway.
Not all is green and crystal clear. ¿Donde está el color?, "where is the color?", asks this piece of wall.
El puente de Toledo is the most beautiful bridge on Madrid's Manzanares.
This modern addition gives it some serious modern competition.
Tizón was visiting us for the week-end.
The "urban beach" seems indispensable in a city like Madrid.
