Parks of Madrid - Felipe VI

Valdebebas/Felipe VI is a fairly new park in Madrid, being developed from the late 1990s.  The park opened to the public in 2015 as Valdebebas, was quickly renamed Felipe VI, and almost returned to Valdebebas after a referendum.  However, that vote represented about 2% of the population of the district alone, so in the end nothing was changed.  There's a great deal of emptiness in the area, being newly built up.  There aren't even any bars.  That's probably why there aren't many people hanging out at the park.

Empty, dried up space, like the American Southwest.

Several streams run through the park territory, but we are recommended not to swim, drink, or allow dogs to do so.

You know it's not a park for tourists when everything is in Spanish

Those damn Argentinian parrots are here too, eating whatever they want and screaming at you if you look at them wrong.  I think they're bolder up here than in Parque del Oeste and Casa de Campo.

There's an area of pond and stream with a lot of greenery and this little hut for sitting and relaxing.

Kind of odd to see a lone turtle, with the crowds at Atocha and Retiro

 

There's a lookout tower more or less in the middle of the park, not too high to climb up, and with a nice, sloping ramp so it's accessible to pretty much everybody.  There is a palm tree growing the middle, protected from scorching sun, but who knows if it will want a little more light at some point.

Looking down

Looking away

Last but nor least is the lake, or Concrete Beach as we called it.  Again, the "recommendation" is not to swim or let dogs swim, but there was one couple with a dog kind of splashing at the edge.  It's a little disappointing to jump down to that sandy looking area, only to find that it's hard, unforgiving concrete.

There are some water birds, and it doesn't look like it's actually very deep.  Despite the general ripply surface, some areas are smooth, like there's something just underneath.

It gets shady pretty fast on the lake, since it's in a sort of depression in the land.  The concrete keeps everything nice and warm, though.