Calle Compañía

It is home to the Casa de las Conchas, La Clerecía (seat of the Pontifical University), San Benito Church, and several convents, including Madre de Dios and Las Agustinas, culminating in Plaza de las Agustinas with the Palacio de Monterrey. It is a street bustling with tourists and students, especially during Holy Week, when religious brotherhoods use it for their processions.

Miguel de Unamuno, who daily trod its cobblestones on his way to the University, dodging uniforms, books, and the occasional cassock, once said that it was perhaps the most beautiful street in Europe. A cold, sober, and monumental street. Solitary yet accompanied, like a beautiful paradox of destiny. A stirring street that seems to gaze into the mirror of old Europe. A sweet victim of a celestial cleaving, leaving on both sides the Casa de las Conchas and La Clerecía, on an endless incline that, stone by stone, seems unmoving, infinite, eternal.

Today, a song plays in the distance. It is very cold, but I sit on the steps of the cinema on this street. The show is about to begin.