#1 Madrid Literario
Starting in the Plaza Mayor with your back to the Casa de la Panadería, walk to the far left corner (the south-east corner) and take Calle Gerona to Plaza de las Provincias, which, as you continue walking southeast, becomes the Plaza de Santa Cruz. As you enter the double plaza, on the right you will see the magnificent Ministry of the Exterior, a building dating to the days of the Habsburgs and in an earlier life, the place of the old Court Jail (Cárcel de la Corte). Continue across both plazas and take the left hand street that is straight ahead, the Calle de la Bolsa.At the end of the Calle de la Bolsa is the Plaza de Jacinto Benavente, with the statue of the street sweeper in the middle, commissioned to honor the street sweepers of Madrid. To the back and right of the street sweeper, on the corner, is one of the older theaters of Madrid, Teatro Calderón.
#2 Corral de las Comedias
Walk ahead to the passageway called Plaza del Angel, and before it widens out into a real plaza, turn left into the Calle Espoz y Mina and proceed to the corner of Calle de Alvarez Gato.On this corner, just before the Calle de Alvarez Gato, there is a building with a plaque that marks the spot where the famous Spanish Golden Age of theater (from 1590 to 1681) and its Corral de las Comedias (or theatrical courtyard) stood at the entry to the Calle de Álvarez Gato. Notice the mural painted on the side of the building showing the perspective of the street looking both up and down the Calle de Espoz y Mina. You may recognize the large mass of La Telefonica (or phone company), which you saw on the Gran Vía tour, in the background. The right hand corner of the mural shows Felipe IV pointing to the letters and asking if this is all an illusion: “¿Me engañan los ojos o el deseo? ¿Dónde existió un teatro ahora es solo calle o , ¿la calle toda ahora es un teatro? ¿Me engañan los ojos o el deseo?” It is said that Felipe IV (quite a ladies man) spent many a night here, where the actress called “La Calderona” was queen. The King fathered a child with her and after she died, he gave his name to the illegitimate son and brought him to live at court where he was known as Juan de Austria. The presence at court of this very healthy but illegitimate son was a continuous challenge for the widowed queen Marianne of Austria whose only surviving son, the future Carlos II, was never robust or healthy. [It is ironic that Felipe IV, who was rumored to have sired over 40 illegitimate children, had practically no viable legitimate heir. The son that inherited the throne, Carlos II, known as “El Hechizado” (the Bewitched), was a very sorry picture of a monarch. Due to innumerable dynastic marriages within the family, he inherited a host of health problems and was unable to provide an heir. He was the last of the Habsburgs or Austrias. At his death, the throne was transferred to the Bourbon line from France to whom they were related, instead of the traditional alliances with the Vienna’s Habsburgs. All of these mishaps were the cause of a protracted and dividing war called “The War of Austrian Succession” in the 18th century that had dire consequences for Castile and the way it has been regarded by Catalonia and Valencia ever since.
#3 Luces de Bohemia
Turn to the right (east) into the Calle de Alvarez Gato.Notice that the building on the left (north) has a plaque noting that this particular corner is the place where a fictional episode in the novel Luces de Bohemia by Ramón del Valle Inclán talks about mirrors and the distorted reality of the esperpentos. The next café on the left has two mirrors that mimic the distortions mentioned in chapter 12 of the novel. The mural and the mirrors cleverly play off the phrase Felipe IV is pointing to.
#4 Casa Villa Rosa
Continuing down (east) the Calle de Alvarez Gato, at the end of the street on the right, is a beautifully decorated restaurant, Casa Villa Rosa, with tiled pictures (created in 1928) of Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Madrid, etc.Along with the Casa Villa Rosa, on the left corner is another of these old restaurants, La Fragua de Vulcano, named after a painting by Diego de Velázquez that you can see in El Prado. Such restaurants, or mesones, are great places to have dinner. But even better yet, go with a group of students to have raciones or tapas that can be shared, Spanish style, with the group. This is done best in the late afternoon or early evening. Later in the evening, the better mesones are often crowded. Order something to drink, like mosto (grape juice) and spend a leisure hour watching people go by and enjoying yourself.
#5 Plaza Santa Ana
Turn to the south and walk a few paces. You will be in the north-west corner of the Plaza Santa Ana.Plaza Santa Ana is lined with great cafés and restaurants where you can have lunch and where the “menu del día” at noon is usually affordable or you can come back later for raciones or tapas. Proceed to the statue of Calderon de la Barca.
#6 Hotel Victoria
With your back to the rear of the statue of Calderon, the former Hotel Victoria, freshly remodeled, forms the west end of the plaza.The restored Hotel Victoria has been subdivided into three different hotels and restaurants. This was a legendary place where toreros and movie stars used to stay while in Madrid. The building, finished in 1919, has an elegant facade of bow windows and an interesting tower with a light-house decoration, a reference to the modernist idea of the building as a true lighthouse that illuminates the city night. On the cornice there are art-nouveau decorations that are reminiscent of the Viennese Secessionist style. The hotel, besides fronting on the Plaza Santa Ana, also fronts on the Plaza del Ángel, which you glimpsed from its western end a few minutes ago. Some of the most famous jazz places in Madrid are found in the Plaza Santa Ana, but they mainly come alive in the evening.
#7 Church of San Sebastian
Again, with your back to the rear of Calderon’s statue, turn left and walk past the corner of the Hotel Victoria into the east end of the Plaza del Ángel and keep walking across the east end of the plaza into the Calle San Sebastián, which is straight ahead. Keep walking to the end of Calle San Sebastián, and you will be on the cross street Calle de Atocha. The church on the corner on your left is the Iglesia de San Sebastián.If you walk around the corner to the left, onto Calle de Atocha, you will notice the sign on the wall that says Lope de Vega was buried here. Well, yes and no. Iglesia de San Sebastian was practically destroyed during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and was only much later reconstructed; therefore the interior is totally modern. If it is open, go inside and notice how the main altar is almost in the middle of the floor plan, under the cupola, to signify that the altar is a table from which we all partake. Straight ahead, on the side altar is a plaque indicating Lope de Vega had been buried here. To the right of the plaque, we see the chapel referred to by Benito Perez Galdós in his work Misericordia. To the left, you can see through an iron grill the remnants of the original church and also the chapel where two of the most famous architects of the 18th century lie: Juan de Villanueva and Ventura Rodriguez. This little side chapel is dedicated to the Virgin of Our Lady of Belen (also called the chapel of the Architects), created in beautiful neo-classical style with very fine floral details.In the parochial district of this church, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Villanueva, and the 18th architect Churriguera were either baptized or married, along with a long and impressive list of the most famous writers throughout the centuries: Ramón de la Cruz, Larra, Becquer, Espronceda, Jacinto Benavente, Menendez Pidal, and on and on. You will delight in reading the names listed on the wall.Go to the exit to Calle de Atocha. This door used to be the main entrance until the whole doorway was moved to the Calle San Sebastián. On your right is the famous statue of the crucified Christ, the Cristo de los Alabarderos, an image maintained by the famous Royal Guards. Legend has it that after a night of debauchery, one of the soldiers left his sword here. When he missed it the next morning, he went back and found the same place in ruins as if many years had passed, but his sword was there intact! Had it been a sign or a dream? He was frightened and repentant, therefore, he presented his sable to the statue of Christ and renounced the world to retire into a convent.
#8 The Flower Shop
Exit the church to the Calle de Atocha. If you turned left and walk east on Calle de Atocha you would find the much restored and changed structure of the Sociedad Cervantina, where the first edition of the Quixote was printed. However, return now to the corner of Calle de Atocha and Calle San Sebastián, turn right and once more enter Calle San Sebastián. Opposite the entrance to the church here is the magnificent Palace of the Conde de Tepa, now being restored. Continuing walking back to the Calle de las Huertas, a cross street to Calle San Sebastián. You will be on the south east corner of the Plaza del Ángel once again.On the corner of Calle San Sebastián and Calle de las Huertas, kitty-corner from the plaza, is a flower shop. This corner lot used to be the Cementerio para las Actores of the Golden Age. The graves were moved from this corner by José I (Bonaparte), the usurper king of Spain, who was installed by his brother Napoleon, during the French invasion of 1808. This historical travesty is the reason that many of the mortal remains of the most illustrious Spanish writers, such as Lope de Vega, were lost. The remains were simply all buried in a common grave at a new location. Across from the flower shop is a plaque on the corner indicating that in the time of Carlos III (18th century), a café on this spot was frequented by the literary stars of the time.
#9 Calle de las Huertas
Turn right (east) into the Calle de las Huertas; if you look down the street, you will discover that from where you are standing (with your back to the Plaza del Ángel),there are brass markers worked into the pavement and placed periodically down the whole length of the street. Each of these contains the name of a different author, representing different literary periods, with quotes from their works and biographical information.The markers on the Calle de las Huertas begin with Benito Perez Galdós and continues to Luis de Góngora, with his famous quote, “Andando yo caliente y ríase la gente...” (“I am impervious to what others may say”). You will find other quotes from Quevedo to Bécquer as you walk down the street.Also, as you are walking, notice the facade of the Cámara de Comercio, Industria y Servicios at Number 13.
#10 Cervantes Lived Here
At the first corner on the left, turn into the Calle del Príncipe a few paces and look at the Baroque doorway by Pedro de Ribera (a notable 18th century Baroque architect). Returning to the Calle de las Huertas, straight ahead is number 18.At #18 Calle de las Huertas, you should be able to see a plaque above a taberna claiming that Miguel de Cervantes lived there for a while. It was here that his wife told him about a false "Quixote" published by Avellaneda. This spurred Cervantes on to start writing the second half of his famous novel.
#11 The Muslim Prince
Look towards the corner opposite of #18.On the opposite corner there used to be a palace in which a Muslim prince, Mullei Sukei, lived. Cervantes even made reference to his own house as being across the street from “The Black Prince,” meaning a Muslim prince. This Muslim (formerly spelled "Moslem," now considered outdated) prince had asked for refuge in the court of Felipe II and then converted to Christianity. His Christian godparents were the crown prince, the future Felipe III, and his sister. (The name of the street refers to Felipe III as the heir of the crown, or Prince of Asturias).
#12 Plaza de Matute
Continue down the Calle de las Huertas until you find and read one of the rimas by Becquer: “Volverán las oscuras golondrinas.” As you come to the small Plaza de Matute (the name of ‘matute’ refers to things bought or sold illegally, contraband, etc.), notice one of the more unusual modernist buildings in Madrid, the house Pérez Villamil, on the right (west) side of the plaza, sandwiched between other structures just before the plaza narrows down.The small, white Pérez Villamil was erected in 1906 by a grandson of a famous 19th century painter. The soft curves, characteristic iron work and imaginative decorations were totally new to Madrid with the exception of another house called Palacio Longoria, now occupied by the Society of Authors that we will see in another walk. This style is in keeping with the work of many famous modernist architects, especially those in Barcelona, like Gaudi or Domenech.
#13 Calle de Leon
Continuing down Calle de las Huertas, read the words by Zorrilla: “¿No es cierto ángel de amor que en esa apartada orilla,” quoting D. Juan Tenorio. A little further on you will find a quote by Jose Echegaray (a historian) written on his admittance to the Real Academia de la Historia. He lived in this neighborhood and therefore there is a street on the left (north) named for him. The corner after Calle de Echegaray is where Calle de León crosses Calle de las Huertas.According to legend, Calle de León received its name from a story about a man that would walk down this street and announce that his lion could not be seen by anybody that was not a “castellano viejo” so nobody would admit to not seeing it! In other words, this is another version of the “Emperor’s New Clothes,” except the gist of the threat is that if you were not a “castellano viejo,” you were either Jewish or Muslim, so you could not see the lion.
#14 Convento y Iglesia de los Trinitarios
On the far right (southeast) corner is the building of the Real Academia de Historia where the famous historian Menendez Pelayo lived and worked. Now, turn to the left (north) and walk to the next corner, where Calle de Lope de Vega runs into Calle de León. Turn right into Calle de Lope de Vega and proceed down the street. Just beyond the first slight bend in the road, you will see the Church of the Trinitarios.On the left side of the main door of the Convento y Inglesia de los Trinitarios is a plaque stating that Miguel de Cervantes, his wife, and his daughter (who was a nun in the convent here) are buried in this church. Cervantes died March 6, 1616, which curiously was the same day on which William Shakespeare died.
#15 Calle de Quevedo
Walk back up Calle de Lope de Vega a few paces and turn right (north) into Calle de Quevedo, named for another Golden Age writerFrancisco Gómez de Quevedo (y Villegas)bought the house on the corner where Luis de Góngora (y Argote), another of the great writers of the period had lived. Ironically, the two were life-long poetical and satirical rivals.
#16 La Casa de Lope de Vega
Continue walking down Calle de Quevedo until you come to Calle de Cervantes. Turn right (east) onto Calle de Cervantes and find the house with the plaque announcing that Lope de Vega lived in that house.The legend above Lope Félix de Vega (Carpio)'s door reads, in a perfect chiasm, “PARVA PROPRIA MAGNA, MAGNA ALIENA PARVA.” (Que propio albergue es mucho, aun siendo poco, y mucho albergue es poco siendo ajeno.) Turn around and walk the other direction (west) up the Calle de Cervantes, all the way to the intersection with Calle de León. Just before the corner, on the left, is the home where Miguel de Cervantes lived and died. Since both Cervantes and Lope de Vega lived on the same street, you might wonder why Calle de Cervantes was not named after Lope de Vega. According to legend, this street was named after Cervantes and not after Lope de Vega because Cervantes died first.
#17 Teatro Español
Facing La Casa de Lope de Vega, go left up of Calle de Cervantes to Calle de León turn right (north), walk to the intersection with Calle del Prado, turn left and walk up to the Plaza Santa Ana, where we we were a few minutes ago. As you enter the plaza you will see on your left the renovated Hotel Victoria that was discussed when we walked across the western end of the plaza. Now step to the statue of García Lorca, a famous poet of the 20th century. Stand to Lorca’s side and look in the direction he is looking.You will see in front of you the magnificent (at least on the inside) Teatro Español, built on the same spot where the famous Corral del Príncipe, a theater of the Golden Age, used to be. The theater has been hosting productions since the 16th century. An 1802 fire gutted much of the building; its reconstruction was overseen by Juan de Villenueva, and significant improvements were made to its technical features. In 1933, it became a National Theater; unfortunately, it suffered damage from another fire in the same year. It was rebuilt once again, and refurbished in 1995 into the theater you see today. The fans of this theater kept up a healthy rivalry with the defenders of the other popular theater, Corral de las Comedias, which you will pass if you take the suggested route back to Puerta del Sol.
#18 Ending the Madrid Literario Walk
At this point the tour is over. You can choose one of the following ways to return to a known landmark.To return to Puerta del Sol, take the Calle del Principe to the left (north) of Lorca. Along the way watch for the Teatro de la Comedia on the left. When you reach the end of the Calle del Principe, you will be in the Plaza de Canalejas, where there is the metro stop Seville. You can either take this metro, or you can walk down to the Puerta del Sol, which is to the left (west) down the Carrera de San Jerónimo, which runs through the Plaza de Canalejas.To return to the Plaza Mayor, walk west past the west side of the Hotel Victoria, on through the Plaza del Ángel, which turns into the Calle de la Bolsa. This street ends at the Plaza Mayor.To find metro stop Antón Martin, walk to the Plaza del Ángel, on Calderon’s right side (south of the Hotel Victoria), cross its east end and walk straight ahead down the Calle de San Sebastián, until you get to Calle de Atocha. If you turn left onto Calle de Atocha and walk a few blocks, you will come to the metro stop Antón Martin. If you continue walking, Calle de Atocha will take you to the Atocha train station. If you turn right onto Calle de Atocha, and follow it west, it will lead to the Plaza Mayor.
