Calle del Arenal

Calle del Arenal runs where, in medieval times, the Zarza stream flowed down, a current that marked the border between two districts: San Ginés to the south and San Martín to the north. When those quarters began to fill, residents filled the ravine with the earth left over from levelling other streets, until they flattened the ground where the street would later be traced. That fill left a mark still visible in the change of level beside the Escalinata. As the axis linking Puerta del Sol with the Alcázar, the street filled from the 17th century with noble palaces, which in the 19th gave way to hotels, cafés and theatres. The railway and the Teatro Real (1850) turned it into the favourite promenade of the Madrid bourgeoisie. Arenal also starred in a curious urban experiment: in February 1896 it was the first stretch of Madrid paved with cork, a trial meant to dampen noise. The material could not stand the punishment of hooves and wheels, and the idea was abandoned.