Barrio de las Letras

During the Spanish Golden Age, this small neighborhood contained the greatest concentration of literary genius in the history of the Spanish language — and most of them hated each other. Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and Gongora all lived within a few hundred meters of one another in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Cervantes and Lope de Vega were bitter rivals who insulted each other in print for years. Quevedo and Gongora carried on a feud so vicious it produced some of the most brilliantly cruel poetry ever written in Spanish.

The neighborhood is named for them — the "Literary Quarter" — and their words are literally set into the streets. Walk down Calle de las Huertas and you'll find quotes from these writers and others inlaid in bronze letters in the pavement, a literary treasure hunt stretching the length of the street. Cervantes lived on what is now Calle de Cervantes (naturally) and died there on April 22, 1616, possibly on the same day as Shakespeare — though calendar differences between Spain and England make the exact synchronicity debatable.

Lope de Vega's house at Calle de Cervantes 11 (the irony of his rival's name on his street was not lost on anyone) is now a museum, preserved almost exactly as it was when the playwright lived there. His tiny walled garden, his writing desk, and the oratory where he prayed after being ordained as a priest in 1614 — all still there.

Today the Barrio de las Letras is one of Madrid's liveliest nightlife zones, its narrow streets packed with bars, jazz clubs, and flamenco tablaos. The ghosts of the Golden Age writers share the cobblestones with revelers who rarely realize they're drinking in the most literary neighborhood in Spain.