Calle de Cádiz

Calle de Cádiz runs west to east from Carretas to Espoz y Mina, crossing the calle de Barcelona halfway along. In the old maps of Texeira (1656) and Espinosa (1769) it appears bent at a right angle: its course then included the stretch that is now Espoz y Mina, so what we see as two streets was for centuries a single one with an elbow. Before honouring the Andalusian city it was called Majaderitos, after the small mallet used by the goldbeaters, the gold-drawers who hammered the metal into the finest sheets. In time the trade gave way to renowned guitar-makers' workshops, until the reform that followed the demolition of the Convento de la Victoria rearranged the area. Too narrow for carriages, it has always been, without meaning to, a street only for those on foot.