Paseo de San Francisco de Sales

The avenue honors Francis de Sales (1567-1622), born in a Savoy castle and destined by his father for the law. He studied with the Jesuits in Paris and earned a doctorate in law before trading the courtroom for the priesthood. He became bishop of Geneva at the height of the rift between Catholics and Calvinists. Sent to evangelize a region where almost no one wanted to hear him, he turned to a simple idea: writing out his arguments on sheets and slipping them under doors. That preaching in writing earned him, centuries later, the patronage of journalists and writers, granted by Pius XI in 1923. The avenue crosses Chamberí diagonally, from the Plaza de Cristo Rey to the Avenida de Pablo Iglesias. Beneath one of its stretches lie the reservoirs of the Canal de Isabel II; above them, a park with sports areas and trees opened in 2007. Whoever strolls there walks over the water of Madrid.