Plaza Santa Ana

This plaza was the heart of the theater district in the 17th century—the Golden Age of Spanish literature—and is now the center of Madrid's thumping nightlife. A statue of 17th-century playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca faces the Teatro Español, where playwrights such as Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, and Ramón del Valle-Inclán released some of their plays. Opposite the theater and off to the side of a hotel is the diminutive Plaza del Ángel, with one of Madrid's best jazz clubs, the Café Central. One of Madrid's most famous cafés, Cervecería Alemana, is on Plaza Santa Ana and is still catnip to writers and poets.

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