Viaduct & Calle de Segovia

La Latina & Lavapiés


High above Calle de Segovia, Madrid's viaduct, which connects La Morería with the cathedral and royal palace, was built in the 19th century and replaced by a newer version in 1942; the plastic barriers were erected in the late 1990s to prevent suicide jumps. Before the viaduct was built, anyone wanting to cross from one side of the road or river to the other was obliged to make their way down to Calle de Segovia and back up the other side.

If you feel like re-enacting the journey, head down to Calle de Segovia and cross to the southern side. Just east of the viaduct, on a characterless apartment block wall (No 21), is a 17th-century coat of arms, one of the city’s oldest. The site once belonged to Madrid’s Ayuntamiento (Town Hall).

A punt would ferry people across what was then a trickling tributary of the Río Manzanares. You could follow that former trickle's path west, down to the banks of the Manzanares and a nine-arched bridge, the Puente de Segovia, which Juan de Herrera built in 1584.

Transportation

  • metro: Ópera

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby La Latina & Lavapiés attractions

1. Jardines de Las Vistillas

0.05 MILES

West across Calle de Bailén from La Morería are the terrazas (open-air cafes) of Jardines de Las Vistillas, which offer one of the best vantage points in…

2. La Morería

0.08 MILES

The area stretching northwest from Iglesia de San Andrés to the viaduct was the heart of the morería (Moorish Quarter). Strain the imagination a little…

3. Palacio del Duque de Uceda

0.08 MILES

Just down the hill from Plaza de la Villa is the 18th-century baroque remake of the Palacio del Duque de Uceda. Now used as a military headquarters (the…

4. Muralla Árabe

0.08 MILES

Behind the cathedral apse and down Cuesta de la Vega is a short stretch of the original ‘Arab Wall’, the city wall built by Madrid’s early-medieval Muslim…

5. Iglesia del Sacramento

0.09 MILES

Just down the hill from the Plaza de la Villa is the 18th-century baroque remake of the Iglesia del Sacramento, the central church of the Spanish army.

6. Jardín del Príncipe Anglona

0.11 MILES

Down the bottom (at the northern side) of the Plaza de la Paja is the walled 18th-century Jardín del Príncipe Anglona. It's a peaceful garden.

7. Plaza de la Paja

0.12 MILES

Around the back of the Iglesia de San Andrés, the delightful Plaza de la Paja slopes down into the tangle of lanes that once made up Madrid's Muslim…

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      "continent": "Europe",
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