Calle de Vinaroz

Vinaròs lies far off, at the far northern end of the Castellón coast, where the Valencian shoreline takes its leave before entering Catalonia. The Madrid street brings that name to Ciudad Jardín, a quarter where several streets honor Spanish towns, and renders it in the old Castilian spelling, Vinaroz, as against the current Valencian Vinaròs. The town of origin has a history of sea and timber. It received its town charter in 1540 as a reward for backing the Crown during the Germanías revolt, and long before had built one of the busiest ports on the Mediterranean, with shipyards where great vessels were launched. From that same quay thousands of Moriscos left, expelled in 1609. For centuries it watched the horizon in fear of Barbary pirates, and sowed its coast with watchtowers. In Madrid, Calle de Vinaroz runs through the southern part of Ciudad Jardín and brushes the Nicolás Salmerón Cultural Center. Nothing of the Mediterranean shows here, except a name that, read aloud, still smells of salted fish and prawns.