Fodor's Expert Review Plaza de Santa Ana

This plaza was the heart of the theater district in the 17th century—the Golden Age of Spanish literature—and is now one of Madrid's most happening nightlife centers. A statue of 17th-century playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca faces the Teatro Español, where other literary legends such as Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Ramón María del Valle-Inclán released some of their world-renowned plays. Opposite the theater, beside the ME by Meliá hotel, is the diminutive Plaza del Ángel, with one of Madrid's best jazz clubs, Café Central. Cervecería Alemana, a favorite haunt of Hemingway, is on the southeast corner and makes phenomenally tender fried calamari.