But why oh why did we end up taking so few photos, and of low quality too?? It's a question I initially couldn't comprehend or even know the exact answer but after some thoughts I came up with a couple of clues. I think we still used our old camera then and it wasn't brilliant at taking digital photos (digital camera technology moves so quick nowadays). And another thing, I remember there was a used book fair ongoing whilst we were there and the area seemed 'solemn' with people reading books and it would have felt rude to break the solitude with flashes from our camera.
There you go, I think I just answered my own question by concluding that it's actually a combination of both reasons. Never mind! I did borrow a photo from Wikipedia to show what the planting in the station looks like from a distance, to give a better idea of what it really is like. It is superb, and looks better in my memory, certainly much better than the photos I took!
Madrid Atocha Railway Station (photo from Wikipedia)
And since I'm featuring a few retro photos from our trip to Madrid, the capital of Spain a few years ago, way back 2007, I might as well feature a few other plant-y photos we took during our stay there. This is proper retro stuff, relatively speaking...Solanum betaceum
Solanum betaceum
A fernery section of The Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid)...
Which is nowhere near as big as some of the major botanical gardens in Europe. It's good enough to visit though if you're in the city. During that time they were replanting this area. I wonder what this area looks like now??
Xanthorrhoea glauca
Phoenix dactylifera
Cordyline kaspar
Oddly enough this was labelled only as 'Fairy Bamboo'...hmmmm...
More of that 'Fairy Bamboo'
Small as this botanical garden may be, they did have a few nice succulents growing outside, relishing the warm climate of the Spanish capital..Agave victoria-reginae
Agave americana 'Striata'
Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba' and 'Variegata'
Agave weberi
A selection of Opuntias
One of the Agave beds (with me for scale)
But like all other botanical gardens they have some glasshouses as well...Chamaerops humilis
A very nice 'clump' of Chamaerops humilis
Washingtonia robusta
We managed to time it right that there was also an ongoing Andy Goldsworthy installation whilst we were there, inside the Palacio de Cristal which is within Madrid's Buen Retiro Park. Beings admirers of his work, we just had to check it out and his installation did not disappoint.Palacio de Cristal (which was funny enough inspired by the works of Joseph Paxton who was responsible for the Palm House at Kew)
Andy Goldsworthy's installation was colossal. It occupied most of the floor space of the Crystal Palace and we were free to walk within his work
Another view of the Crystal Palace where you can see Andy Goldsworthy's installation inside
So there you go, just a few snippets of the city of Madrid. I suspect it will be awhile before we go back to this city again, and it will take some time before I get to say Hola to Atocha once again. But if we do, I'm going to make sure we have a good camera on hand and will take lots and lots of pictures of it!Mark :-)