Monte de El Pardo Hills is a forest of holm oaks covering approximately 16,000 hectares.
It is situated halfway along the Manzanares River, which crosses Madrid to the north of this mega-city. The southern border of the Monte de El Pardo Hills is only 8 kilometres from the centre of the capital city.
The whole area belongs to the municipal area of Madrid. It is bordered on the north by the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains, on the south by the city of Madrid, and on the east and west by highways that divide Madrid. The climate here is typically Mediterranean, with a very dry, hot season. The average annual rainfall ranges between 500 and 600 mm, and the temperature between 11 and 12ºC.
A green belt
From Madrid City until The Guadarrama Mountains
In a similar enclave of approximately 20,000 hectares, which forms part of the national heritage, oaks, junipers, ash trees, cork oaks, gall oaks, kermes oaks, green olives and rosemary live side by side.
In the C16th, under Carlos I, it became a royal hunting ground. Then, during the reign of the Bourbon dynasty, its agricultural use was allowed, taking advantage of the course of the Manzanares, which crosses the park from north to south.
By order of Fernando VI, the lands were protected by a wall and an entrance gate, the current Puerta de Hierro. The Monte de El Pardo is a true green belt from the city of Madrid to the Sierra de Guadarrama
A privileged reserve
Fuencarral - El Pardo.
The fallow deer and the boar are the most emblematic species of the Monte de El Pardo, which also accommodates large birds of prey such as the imperial eagle.
The roe buck and the rabbit round off the fauna which take advantage of the fact that visits to a good deal of the pastured woods of this landscape are prohibited, making these beings chosen protagonists of a unique environment in the autonomous region of Madrid, a kind of lung which decontaminates and brings fresh air to the metropolis.
The palace of the Zarzuela, the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain, is located within the boundaries of El Pardo. Another royal palace, also called El Pardo, is situated within this area.
Up until 1950, it belonged to the municipality of the same name, and today forms part of the district of Fuencarral- El Pardo.
Game preserve
The regular game preserve of the kings and heads of state of Spain
The Pardo has always been the regular game preserve of the kings and heads of state of Spain, including true hunting enthusiasts, such as a monarch of the House of Bourbon who reigned in the C18th, the popular Carlos III, and last century’s general and dictator, Francisco Franco. The photo above these lines shows the grandfather of King Juan Carlos I, Alfonso III, and his mother, María Cristina de Habsburgo- Lorena, posing after a hunt with the pieces they captured.
