El Retiro Park

This guide to El Retiro Park in Madrid centers on the Fountain of the Fallen Angel, tucked in a quiet corner of the royal garden, and the sculptor Ricardo Bellver, who cast it in Rome in the 1870s from a scene in Milton's Paradise Lost. You'll hear how a plaster study became a bronze centerpiece unveiled by Queen Maria Christina, and why Madrileños still call this spot the gateway to hell. Best visited on a quiet afternoon, away from the boating lake crowds.