This route is devoted almost entirely to a place which, together with the Rastro and the Casa del Campo, attracts a good proportion of the city's residents every Sunday: the Retiro park. An immense garden which was originally designed exclusively for use by the Hapsburgs, thanks to King Carlos III the Retiro became a place for all madrileños to enjoy.

The puerta de Alcalá was built on the initiative of this enlightened monarch, said to be the best mayor in Madrid's history; the monument is to Madrid what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, or the Statue of Liberty to New York.

Information and guide suministrated by El Consorcio de Turismo de Madrid