Of taverns and poets

A long time ago the alleys between Puerta del Sol and Paseo del Prado were the center of the literary world. While Philip IV, a cultured king devoted to sensual pleasures, led his empire toward the abyss, there was little sense of the end of the world in the Barrio de las Letras, Madrid´s writers´ district. Here, Miguel de Cervantes had his world-famous “Don Quixote” printed, Francisco Quevedo cursed in his sonnets everyone who had rank and name, Lope de Vega wrote hundreds of works and Calderón de la Barca brought the Spanish Baroque theater to its climax.

The 17th century was the Golden Age of Spanish culture. In the open-air theaters, the Corral del Príncipe and the Corral de la Cruz, premieres could be admired every day. All social groups flocked to the theater and expressed their enthusiasm or displeasure at what was happening on stage without restraint. The actresses achieved immeasurable fame, just like the film divas of our times. Meanwhile, the impoverished poets gathered at the Mentidero de los Representatives on León Street, exchanging rumors about the Court, gossiping about corrupt editors and speaking extremely badly about their literary rivals.

What was written here in the Barrio de las Letras went out into the big world, especially to the Indies, where the cultural landscape was beginning to flourish. And also in later centuries, theater history was written in the Spanish National Theater, successor to the Corral del Príncipe, where Federico García Lorca caused a great sensation with the premiere of his play “Yerma”.

Explore with us the idyllic alleys of this neighborhood so full of literary references and end this journey through time in one of its many taverns. Because the Barrio de las Letras today has an unsurpassed gastronomic diversity.

The former “slums” between modernity and folklore

On this walk we will visit two of the most traditional Madrid neighborhoods that bring together all the imaginable contradictions. Popular heart of the capital but at the same time its modern face. Typical Madrid characters and also immigrants who built up a new existence here. Famous bandits, bloody criminals, despotic kings, courageous workers, hipsters as a symbol of gentrification, golden miles of drinking and partying, vehement neighborhood protests. All the diversity of a capital concentrated in two districts south of Plaza Mayor and the historic Austrias neighborhood. With some outstanding monuments of the Madrid landscape: Church of San Isidro el Real, Rastro, Church of San Cayetano and many more places.

The long journey towards modernity

Not long ago this neighborhood was synonymous with prostitution, drugs and crime. But in the eighties something like a miracle happened: inspired by a bookstore for gays and lesbians, more and more nightclubs emerged around the Plaza de Chueca. Associations, restaurants, fashion stores and small design hotels followed. Nowadays Chueca has long become one of the most sought-after areas to live, and not only for members of the LGTBIQ community. But also completely different problems arise: instead of marginalization, gentrification, touristification and exorbitant housing prices.

On our walk we will learn about part of this history of clandestine homosexuality in Madrid, places of occasional encounters and police persecution. But also squares and buildings with a surprising history. And all of that in the middle of one of the most dynamic and modern areas of the capital.