It is told that Doña Ana was the only daughter of a willful and violent man. However, love had the last word, as it always does, although here in the most tragic of circumstances.

Doña Ana was being courted by a handsome young fellow, Luis. But when her father found out, he forbade her to go out, threatened to send her to a convent, and worse, to marry her off to an old, rich Spanish nobleman, by which the father's estate would be restored to its former glory.

The beautiful, docile young woman and her lady in waiting, Brígida, cried and pleaded with the father, but all for naught.

So, before accepting her sad fate, Ana and Brígida decided that Brígida would deliver a letter to Luis telling him of the disastrous news.

The love-stricken young man imagined a thousand things he might do, and settled on one after much deliberation.

There was a window in Ana's house that opened onto a narrow alleyway, so narrow in fact that it was possible to touch the wall of the house across the way by leaning out the window.

The young man thought that if he could enter that house opposite Ana's, he would be able to talk to her, and the two of them might devise a solution to their problem. He found the owner of the house and bought it immediately, paying in gold.

Imagine Ana's surprise when, leaning from her balcony, she suddenly found herself just inches from her true love. Time stood still as the two gazed longingly into each other's eyes. But they were abruptly brought back to reality by angry words coming from the doorway behind Ana. It was her father, shouting at Brígida who was risking life and limb to prevent him from entering the room.

The father threw off the young lady blocking his path, and madly made his way toward his daughter, a dagger in his hand. In a fit of rage, he stabbed her in the chest.

Luis, in shock, stood with Ana's hand in his. Coming to his senses and realizing what had happened, he gently kissed his love's hand, now lifeless and cold.

And that is why this spot, no doubt one of the most representative of our city, is called the Alleyway of the Kiss.