The best road cycling routes around Pozuelo Del Rey

Super cool water to replenish your strength

For its tower, which is worth visiting, and its tree-lined plaza where you can relax in the shade.

The ethnographic complex of the Fuente Grande de Corpa is an important element of the local heritage. It was built in 1897 by local stonemasons Francisco and Vicente, according to an inscription attached to the wall of the watering hole. The water reaches the stone basins from two different springs in an old cattle rest area at the Cordel de la Senda de la Galiana, although there had been a powerful spring for a long time before. The largest pond was a public washhouse and one of the jets has its own name, it is the Collantes spout and was an old war cannon.

Olmeda de las Fuentes is a beautiful refuge of cobbled streets and whitewashed houses in the Alcarria region of Madrid. It is a suggestive hideaway among the extensive agricultural wastelands of the region and the narrow valleys that mark the particular orography of the territory. It is a pleasant and quiet place that was chosen a few decades ago by painters and artists to live, be inspired, create or simply rest in a delightful corner of the southeast of Madrid. And that is why the town is known as “Olmeda de los pintores” or the “town of artists”. The popular architecture is well cared for, the streets are narrow and steep, most are pedestrian, there are viewpoints and it is a pleasure to walk through the urban area following the Route of the painters or the Route of the fountains, which has a curious ethnographic museum of the Alcarria region of Madrid on the bank of the stream.

The unique urban style of Nuevo Baztán maintains the original Baroque model from the beginning of the 18th century, designed by José de Churriguera by order of Juan de Goyeneche, who had permission from Charles II to build glass, paper and textile factories on Spanish territory. The Navarrese businessman was originally from Arizkun, in the Baztán Valley, but spent time in Madrid because he had other properties and professional relations with the Court. He chose the site of Madrid's Alcarria to found an industrial and rural centre in honour of his homeland and commissioned the Madrid architect to build a glass factory, a farming village of half a thousand inhabitants, a palace, a monumental church and gardens with centuries-old pines and elms. The town preserves cobbled streets, stone squares, rural buildings from the time of its foundation, between 1709 and 1713, and palace gardens, a beautiful heritage complex declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1941 and a Site of Cultural Interest in 2000.

The Tower is the icon of Villarejo de Salvanés, it is a unique model of a keep among the constructions of medieval fortresses. Around it there are remains of the walls and rooms that completed the complex of the old castle of the town, occupied for several centuries by the knights of the Order of Santiago. The Plaza de la Constitución concentrates a good part of the monumental Villarejo de Salvanés, opposite the Tower is the church of San Andrés Apóstol, imposing and with tower-shaped buttresses that give a defensive appearance to the building. And one corner is occupied by the Casa de la Tercia, headquarters of the Encomienda Mayor de Castilla and current Ethnographic Museum. An interesting place for fans of the seventh art is the Museo del Cine, the first professional film museum in Spain.

A must stop for a coffee and something to eat.

It is a shame that only the keep of the entire walled building is preserved, but it is also fortunate to miss out on enjoying this architectural beauty, whose shape is peculiar and unusual in this type of fortress.