Monte El Viejo is Palencia's close-at-hand countryside, a broad natural recreation area only a few kilometres from the centre. It has long belonged to the life of the city, first as working pasture and woodland, now as a place for walking, cycling, family picnics, and views back across the Castilian plain.
Do not expect a manicured urban park. The appeal is the space: holm oak, open tracks, the Casa Grande area, and the feeling that Palencia has a rough green lung waiting just beyond the last streets.