The first street of the New World
Laid out around 1502 during the governorship of Nicolás de Ovando, Calle Las Damas — "the Street of the Ladies" — is the oldest paved street in the Americas. It takes its name from the ladies of the court of María de Toledo, wife of Diego Columbus, who would promenade along it in the cool of the evening.
A short walk down its length passes more colonial history than almost anywhere else on earth.
What lines the street
Along its course stand the Casas Reales (the royal houses, now a museum), the Panteón Nacional in a former Jesuit church, a colonial sundial of 1753, and the Hostal Nicolás de Ovando, a 16th-century governor's mansion now a hotel. At its head rises the Alcázar de Colón; at its foot, the Fortaleza Ozama.
To walk it is to move through the first chapter of the Americas, building by building.
What you'll see
- ✦Original 16th-century stone paving underfoot
- ✦The Casas Reales and the Panteón Nacional
- ✦The colonial sundial of 1753
- ✦The Hostal Nicolás de Ovando
