'Die schönen Tage in Aranjuez sind nun zu Ende.' The drama Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller starts with these words. I am not sure whether Schiller is historically correct when describing the reign of Philip II in his play. Correct is that Philip II declared Aranjuez a 'Real Sitio' in 1560, and that he commissioned the construction of the Palacio Real in the same year. My impression was also that the best days for Aranjuez are gone when I visited the site in May 2019. But not because the palace and gardens were in bad condition (on the contrary, everything was nice and well maintained). It was rather because the area around the palace was almost deserted on that weekday morning.

Castles and palaces are not my favourite world heritage sites. But there are a few exceptions on the list where I was pleasantly surprised. Aranjuez, however, was not one of them. The interiors are more or less the same sequence of rooms as in other European palaces, and similarly boring. Only two rooms are exceptional: the Porcelain Room, which is entirely covered with porcelain reliefs, and the room with 200 small Chinese paintings on rice paper, depicting rural life right next to torture scenes.
The Palacio Real impresses mainly by its size. In the 18th century two side wings were added and the whole complex was converted into a Baroque palace. My photo is the view of the palace from the south, from the Plaza de Parejas. On the right is the Casa de Oficios y Caballeros, an auxiliary building of the palace, nice with porticoes all around.
The Aranjuez Cultural Landscape comprises extensive parks and ornamental gardens around the palace. And that was the best part of my visit. Apparently, the Spanish monarchs had a fondness for water features. Between the tall trees are numerous stone and marble fountains with scenes from Greek mythology, for example one with Bacchus sitting on a barrel. You can find this and many other fountains in the Jardin de la Isla. The island was created when an artificial branch of the Tagus River was channelled directly past the palace. It is the most interesting of the gardens. However, I did not see anything in Aranjuez that I had not already seen elsewhere.
The city centre of Aranjuez is also part of the World Heritage Site. It is a planned city built in the middle of the 18th century. Before then, the right to live in Aranjuez was restricted to members of the royal court. The city map has a symmetrical layout like a chessboard, but apart from that there is nothing remarkable. Walking through the streets, I did not have the feeling of visiting a world heritage town.

All in all, Aranjuez was the least exciting WHS on my trip through central Spain.