My Visit to the Royal Palace of Aranjuez

Hello friends. I wanted to visit Madrid again because the last residence of the kings of Spain that I had not yet visited is located here. I toured this wonderful city and of course, the palace called Aranjuez. Santiago meaning the knights of the Order of Saint James, came here first. Later the Catholic monarchs, Isabel and Fernando, liked this place very much and turned it into a royal property. But the real rise of this palace and this region occurred in the early sixteenth century, when the Bourbons came to power. Here stands a palace transformed into a spring residence. In other words this is not a summer or autumn residence, but literally a spring residence for Spanish kings. The form we witness right now shaped up precisely in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

If I need to talk about the interiors, I must say they are really very interesting and do not resemble El Escorial or La Granja, which I visited before. Still some lines in the architecture overlap at least with La Granja. I loved the textile decoration. It is really very intense, finely crafted and extremely expensive. Naturally very elegant fabrics were used. There are diferent designs of window decoration in different rooms. This is definitely very interesting. The wallpapers are wonderful. Moreover, some are silk wallpapers, while others are paintings or drawings given a wallpaper feel, which is also very interesting.

There are a few rooms that stand out in a crazy way. The first is the Arab study or smoking room. It is in an excellent Moorish style, again very heavily decorated. Meaning there are carvings, embroideries and really amazingly detailed design elements. And the second room, which is completely enormous and unique, is the place called the porcelain room. Everything here is made of porcelain, wall decorations, lighting, furniture pieces. And naturally all of them are in the Chinese style. After all porcelain mostly used to come from there in the past. There are countles scenes featuring people and various animals. You can literally watch this forever. It is really eyecatching and huge.

All the interiors are firstly, very well preserved and secondly, very finely detailed. It has a fairly orderly and clear plan. There is a separate wing for the queen and a separate wing for the king. Naturally they have their own rooms, bedrooms, reception halls, studies and private worship areas. Although there is also a fairly large chapel intended for a broader congregation of believers. There is an incredible banquet hall. Moreover I really liked not only the embroideries on the ceiling there, but also those on the floor. On its side, there is a ballroom that is again very interesting and richly decorated. By the way speaking of richness, a large number of elegant carpets with extremely detailed patterns and different weaving techniques caught my attention, which struck me as quite unusual.

So I was really very impressed. I think among the three summer residences I mentioned in my previous posts, this one is the most ornate and lavish. Btw coming to political events, both a very interesting and tragic page in Spanish history is connected with Aranjuez. The event known as the Mutiny of Aranjuez. The point is that in the early nineteenth century, King Carlos IV was on the throne. The king had a favorite named Manuel Godoy who effectively ruled the country. And many people hated him, including Prince Fernando. Naturally, the public was also against him. That was where the famous Mutiny of Aranjuez broke out. Although the king hid in an attic wrapped in a carpet for a few days, he was overthrown and caught. When he wanted to drink water and stepped outside, they caught him and almost lynched him. But the prince stepped in and saved him, they imprisoned him, tried him etc. But all this ultimately led to the efective occupation of Spain by Napoleon. So on one hand, there was Fernando's desire to get rid of this unacceptable alliance Carlos IV established with Napoleon. On the other hand, these events caused French troops to enter here. And in fact, a war was fought here against these invaders from 1808 to 1812. Carlos IV and Napoleon had a secret agreement to share Portugal, but Napoleon tricked everyone.

Regarding the palace, it is necessary to mention another quite interesting exhibition. It is small but in my opinion, it deserves attention. The costume exhibition. First there are costumes worn by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, who ascended the throne with the restoration of the monarchy after the Franco regime ended in 1975. There are also wedding dresses worn by the princesses at their weddings. It is a very beautiful exhibition, its lighting is very well adjusted, I definitely recommend you take a look.

One of the reasons kings liked this place and wanted to make it a residence is the local lands. They are very fertile. They are fertile because two rivers pass through here and merge right next to the palace. These are the small Jarama River and the slightly larger Tajo River. Watching the Tajo as I see it here is of course very unusual for me, because the Tajo is the very river passing through Toledo. I had been to Toledo and talked about it, it is really very picture perfect. When the Tajo crosses the Spanish-Portuguese border, it turns into the Tejo. This is the river on whose banks the city of Lisbon was founded. And there, of course, it is a giant river. Therefore it is very hard for me to imagine that this small canal, this small stream here, turns into that massive body of water I saw in the Portuguese capital.

Since the land is very fertile, establishing parks around this wonderful palace was quite easy. There are three parks here. The Prince's Park, the Parterre Park behind the palace and the park right on the right side called the Island Garden. And of course, as enthusiasts not only of travel but also of good gastronomy, we should not forget that Aranjuez is famous for two specialties. Thanks again to these fertile lands and wonderful microclimate, Spain's most delicious strawberry and asparagus grow here. Coming to the strawberry topic, I had visited the railway transport museum in Madrid. The Strawberry Train departs from that old station. This Strawberry Train comes here. This is a historic train. That is, a historic convoy, with historic carriages where conductors wear historic costumes. As you travel from Madrid to Aranjuez, they serve you the famous Aranjuez strawberry. So if you happen to come here, go to a proper restaurant and definitely order a dessert with strawberries. It goes wonderfully with mascarpone. I definitely recommend it.

Of course, it is almost impossible to visit all the gardens at once.But if you have to choose, pick the Prince's Garden because in my opinion, it is the most interesting one. First there are many fountains there. The fountains were organized according to natural hydraulic principles, meaning there were no pumps or other mechanisms. Fountains are of various kinds. We looked at the Narcissus Fountain, the Apollo Fountain. There is a small fountain with a swan where two small angels spout water. In short, all kinds of fountains. Also I like that the garden does not look very symmetrical or rigid. This is more of an English style landscape park, almost like a forest.

One of the interesting details is the royal pavilions used by nobles to rest before getting on promenade boats. There is also a boat museum here, unfortunately I could not enter, but one needs to leave something for the next time as well.

And there is also a rather funny story called the Laborer's House or Farmer's House. It is essentially another royal palace in neoclasical style. And it definitely does not look like it belongs to a farmer. At least like it belongs to a noble.

Also regarding Aranjuez, one needs to remember a cultural event or rather the piece titled Concierto de Aranjuez written by the composer Joaquin Rodrigo. The composer drew inspiration from walks he took in the gardens of Aranjuez with his wife on their honeymoon and created the world's first guitar and orchestra concerto. Of course, we all undoubtedly know the second movement named Adagio. Even if you do not know that it is the Adagio movement of Concierto de Aranjuez, you would definitely recognize this melody. Because it is quite popular and considered the best-known, most performed classical piece of Spanish music. Rock musicians, jazz musicians and other pop artists also adapted and reinterpreted it in different styles, which I think is quite interesting.

I hope you found my short walk in Aranjuez interesting. Thank you for reading. 🙏