Avenida del Aster

The Avenida del Aster, in the Hispanoamérica district, owes its name to the aster, a flower with an image written into its very root: the word comes from the Greek astér, “star,” and describes what you see when you lean over it, a corolla of fine petals fanning out in rays around a central disc. Because it blooms when almost everything else in the garden has faded, these late daisies are also called “autumn stars.” The name suits this part of Chamartín, laid out as a residential extension of open blocks and tree-lined streets. An old Greek legend tells that the goddess Astraea, grieved by the scarcity of lights in the night sky, wept over the earth, and from each tear an aster sprang up.