Calle Navarra

This street is named after Navarre, the northern territory that for centuries was a kingdom in its own right, heir to the old Kingdom of Pamplona. The name answers to no particular episode: it belongs to a pattern in Bellas Vistas, where several streets were named after places in Spain. Nearby lie Pamplona, Zamora, Tenerife, Aranjuez and Almansa. The name Navarre itself is of disputed origin. One theory links it to the Basque word naba, “a plain between mountains.” Another starts from the demonym nafar, with Basque suffixes, the language in which the territory today is Nafarroa. The neighbourhood was born of the African War: around 1860, after the campaign that gave its name to nearby Tetuán de las Victorias, a settlement took shape here on the northern outskirts of Madrid. Calle de Navarra opens a step from Bravo Murillo.