The Literary Quarter

The Literary Quarter is named after the great literary figures who walked its streets in the Golden Age. Cervantes, Quevedo and Lope de Vega all frequented this area between Paseo del Prado and Plaza de Santa Ana, one of the most popular in Madrid for its charming pedestrian streets and many shops and restaurants, making it especially lively at weekends.

From Plaza de Santa Ana, famous for its open air terrace cafés and tapas bars, streets like Calle de las Huertas, with its cobbles carved with quotations from great Spanish writers, run downhill towards Paseo del Prado. Precisely in Calle Lope de Vega, in the church of San Ildefonso (the convent of the Trinitarias Descalzas) there is a commemorative plaque to remind you that somewhere in the building lie the mortal remains of the author of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes. Not far from here (in Calle Cervantes, in fact) is the house-museum of the great dramatist Lope de Vega, who is also buried here in the neighbourhood, in the church of San Sebastián (in Calle Atocha).

One of the favourite events of frequent visitors to the neighbourhood is the Mercado de la Ranas. Several weekends a year, local shop owners take their goods out on to the street, decorate their shop windows and run special offers, while concerts and street theatre add to the lively atmosphere.