The best gravel rides around Mondéjar

It is a beautiful town, one of those that remain with its essence.

The Valmores watering hole was restored in 2022, recovering an essential piece in the ethnographic heritage of Pezuela de las Torres. The first references to the fountain appear in the Topographic Relations of 1578. In 1735, reforms and improvements were made to the original spring, making it essential in the daily life of the countryside. The construction has a functional design to water livestock at a crossroads of the Alcarreño moor with trees and benches to take a break.

Pezuela de las Torres acquired jurisdictional independence in 1554 for the payment of one and a half million maravedis, erecting a pillory in the Plaza del Coso that represented the power to administer justice and a place for the town's residents to see criminals who were being sentenced to a pillory. The pillory is seven metres high on a pedestal of four steps and is topped with the heads of four lions. Next to it is the Plaza de la Constitución, home to the Town Hall and the Church of the Assumption, with a Romanesque apse and the rest rebuilt between the 16th and 18th centuries. It has a curious stately doorway from 1748 and a 16th century porticoed gallery, known as El Portalillo, the former meeting centre of the council. Most of the town's streets are on a slope, facing the plain, some houses retain the traditional two-storey country architecture and white facades. On Cerro del Calvario there are remains of traditional wineries used to make wine.

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.

A must stop for a coffee and something to eat.

Comfortable stretch of greenway, which I especially recommend in February, with the flowering of the almond trees

Famous for its palm trees, Morata de Tajuña is a must-see stop for all cyclists in the south of Madrid.