The route is located on the banks of the swamp of Buendia in the Cuenca province of Castilla la Mancha lies a fascinating hiking route, unlike any other in Spain. Sculpted into the natural façade of the rocks and dotted among the beautiful landscape in the area are 18 carved faces and bas-reliefs. This is the La Ruta de las Caras , or in English, the Route of the Faces. The area, close to the city of Madrid, is thick with dense pine forests and outcrops of sandstone rock, overlooking the waters of the Buendía dam. Strolling the hiking paths through this landscape, an onlooker is taken on a cultural and artistic journey of spiritual discovery.

The route is perfect for both nature and art lovers alike and takes one out of the traditional museum setting into a more natural, serene forest, allowing the onlooker to see the relationship between the art and nature itself. Several artists collaborated over the years on this amazing artistic route, creating an impressive and striking collection of sculptures, ranging in size from 1 to 8 feet in height. Each face has a mystical or religious meaning behind it and, carved into the natural sandstone, reminds one of Pharaonic Egypt, and the artists themselves say they were inspired by Pre-Columbian cultures, but continued their solid and rounded sculptures sharing feature of the eastern front position models particularly India. These sculptures reflect on their faces what some call the archaic smile, used by artists as a device that gives mysterious faces a characteristic trait. One of the most famous sculptures, which had already seen several pictures without knowing where he was, is a huge skull located on top of a mound. All figures are of exceptional beauty. Seem to have slept on the rock for centuries.