Calle de la Ruda

Whoever walks today along calle de la Ruda, between calle de Toledo and plaza de Cascorro, treads one of Madrid’s oldest streets: it already appears, by name, on the map Texeira engraved in 1656. It runs through the Embajadores quarter, on that frontier where the Rastro flea market meets the cavas. The name comes from a plant. Rue (Ruta graveolens), a medicinal shrub with a pungent smell, grew against the wall of a nearby convent, though the sources disagree on which one. Around 1840 a cheap food market was set up here, which Galdós put into Misericordia, calling it the filthiest and foulest-smelling street in Madrid. From that same century survives the restaurant Malacatín, at number 5, opened in 1895 and still serving Madrid stew.