Parque Madrid Río winds through southern Madrid like a green ribbon, following the gentle curves of the Manzanares River for six miles. This isn't just any urban park; it's the result of one of Europe's most ambitious greening projects, completed in 2011 after burying the M-30 ring road beneath 27 miles of tunnels. For decades, this multi-lane highway had sliced the city in half "like a knife," but now 300 acres of green space connect Madrid to its river.

The park harbours 300,000 years of history, from woolly mammoths to washerwomen, from royal hunting grounds to meat markets. You'll find the former slaughterhouse turned cultural centre, the spiralling Arganzuela footbridge designed by Dominique Perrault, and remnants of gates where kings once crossed to Casa de Campo.

VoiceMap's self-guided tours trace this transformation from prehistoric riverbank to modern marvel, revealing how Madrid's fortunes rose and fell with the Manzanares while uncovering the royal engineering projects and secret tunnels that shaped Spain's capital.