Pasaje del Áncora

An anchor in the heart of Arganzuela, miles from any coast, comes as a surprise. The passage inherits the name of the nearby Calle del Áncora, opened in the Ensanche Sur and dedicated to the instrument that grips ships to the seabed. Why an anchor inland was never fully explained. The most repeated version credits the residents themselves, who are said to have taken it from a rusty anchor abandoned by the landing of the old Canal del Manzanares, the waterway that ran parallel to the river. The passage was once called Brasil, until it took the name of Áncora to match the street it leads into. A few steps are enough to stop at the oddity: an anchor announced on a plaque, ready to bite a seabed that never existed here.