Cuesta de Moyano book stalls

Next to the Botanic Gardens lies a small pedestrian street known as the Cuesta de Moyano. Running down from El Retiro Park to the Glorieta de Carlos V roundabout, it is lined with 30 book stalls.

The history of this permanent book fair, which is open every day of the week, dates back to 1925, when a string of 15m2 wooden huts were set up along this road. In them sat sellers with no electricity or heating offering books for just 15 cents. Renowned Spanish writer Ramón Gómez de la Serna nicknamed it the “Feria del boquerón” since you could purchase a book for the same price as a boquerón, or anchovy.

Over the last few years, Calle Claudio Moyano has been revamped on more than one occasion giving way to a quaint pedestrian street with a bike lane that is popular with locals and visitors alike. The stalls have been replaced by ones that are more comfortable inside but that have a very similar aesthetic to the original ones.

At the top of the road stands a statue of the illustrious writer Pío Baroja, one of the great promoters of the original fair. At the other end of the street you’ll find a monument to Claudio Moyano, a Spanish politician who passed one of the country’s most important education laws. Known as Ley Moyano (Moyan’s Law), it was in place for over 100 years.

The fair is made up of 30 stalls run by the children and grandchildren of the fair’s founders. They offer a wonderful selection of books, from philosophy and literature to art and essays, as well as antique comic books and out-of-print volumes. They also buy second-hand books from customers. 

Over the centuries, the Cuesta de Moyano has been frequented by important cultural figures, and it appears in many pieces of Spanish literature.