Alcalá de Henares

Spain

Plaza de Cervantes. Alcalá de Henares is a city 30 km northeast of Madrid. Its attractive medieval centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is full of interesting old buildings. It's a university and religious centre, and famous people linked to the town include Miguel Cervantes (baptized and almost certainly born here), author of Don Quixote, Cardinal Cisneros (refounder of the University of Alcalá, the current Complutense University of Madrid) and Katherine of Aragon (born here), first wife of England's King Henry VIII. Alcalá is easily visited as a day-trip from Madrid, and because it's so close to Madrid Barajas Airport it makes a good first or last night stop on a tour of northern Spain.

The main Tourist Information Centre Promoción Turística de Alcalá is at Plaza de los Irlandeses 4, phone: +34 91 882 13 54.

Alcalá de Henares goes back to a Roman settlement by the name of Complutum (hence the tendency to name stuff related to the town "Complutense" according to Latin grammar) while its current name goes back to a Muslim fortress (compare the word "alcazar" for former Muslim fortresses). Both the Roman and the Muslim settlement had their cores somewhat outside the modern urban core of present-day Alcalá. The town has a strong connection to Cardinal Cisneros, the confessor of the "Catholic Monarchs" and perhaps the most powerful non-royal in the Spain of his era. His coat of arms contains storks (cisne in Spanish) and they can be seen all through the town. Cardinal Cisneros is linked to the University, which he transformed into a proper university in 1499 (often given as the foundation date as the previous institution did not teach the full range of early modern university subjects). Prior to the Alhambra Edict, banning Jews and Muslims from living in Spain, which was passed by the Catholic Monarchs on the urging of Cisneros, Alcalá had a large and prosperous Jewish and Muslim community and today buildings in the historic city center are marked according to the part of town they belonged to. Alcalá de Henares was also the site of the baptism of Miguel de Cervantes, the best known author in the Spanish language. He was almost certainly also born here and a house that was linked to Cervantes in the 20th century is presented as his birth house, however, despite him and all his siblings of which baptismal records survive having been baptized here, there are those who doubt his birth occurred here, in part because his birth house is to be found in the Jewish quarter. Cervantes went by a second last name (in Spain and Portugal people usually have two last names, the first from the father, the second from the mother) that was not that of hist mother, which some argue was done to conceal possible Jewish ancestry. Another famous son of the town - ironically residing without his knowledge just across the street from the "Cervantes house" - was Manuel Azaña, the last President of the Second Spanish Republic. The University of Alcalá was moved to Madrid in the 19th century (hence the name "Complutense" of Spain's largest, most prestigious university) but a new university claiming the tradition of the old institution was founded in the 20th century.

The heart of the old town is Plaza de Cervantes, with all the main sights close by, and storks nests teetering on the rooftops. North side of the Plaza leads into the colonnaded Calle Mayor, with many bars and eating places.

  • La Universidad de Alcalá. Daily 09:00-16:00. Founded in 1499 by Cardinal Cisneros, and the centre of academic excellence in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Visit by guided tour only, hourly in Spanish, in English at 14:00. The tour takes in the ornate plateresque façade, the three interior patios, the mudejar chapel, and the Paraninfo auditorium where the Cervantes Literary Prize is presented by the King annually on April 23. The University goes back to an older institution that did not teach the full range of subjects of a "proper" university founded in the 13th century and was moved to Madrid as the modern day Complutense University in the nineteenth century. In the 20th century a new university was founded in Alcalá. Adult, concessions.
  • Casa Natal de Cervantes, Calle Mayor 48. Tu-Su 10:00-18:00. This is the house where the famous author of El Ingenioso Hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha was born in 1547, and lived his early days. The museum recreates life in a Spanish house of that period, though perhaps a more stable, prosperous household than Cervantes' own. His father was a barber-surgeon, so the old shaving & blood-letting bowl foretells Don Quixote's mad helmet. The book was widely translated soon after Part One was published in 1605, and there's an impressive collection of translations and other books and manuscripts from around the world. Free admission but to avoid overcrowding they only let in a dozen or so at a time, so there may be a queue.
  • Hospital de Antezana. a 15th C charity hospital, probably the oldest in Europe in continuous use. Nowadays it's a care home for the elderly.
  • Cathedral. M-F 08:00-14:00 & 16:00-20:30, Sa Su 09:00-13:00 & 18:00-20:30. was originally 15th C, but rebuilt after fire damage in 1939. It's called a "magisterial" cathedral because its clerics were all masters, ie graduate teachers of the university. Contains the Cripta de los Santos Niños a reliquary dedicated to two children who were supposedly executed for their Christian faith under emperor Diocletian allegedly also containing their mortal remains. It's also Cardinal Cisnero's site of burial although his much more elaborate tomb is found in the Chapel of San Ildefonso on University grounds.
  • Archbishop's Palace. built as a fortress in the 14-15th century, turned into an episcopal palace in the 16th century, but much of it burnt down in 1939 during the Civil War. It saw the birth of England's Katherine of Aragón and Germany's Emperor Ferdinand, the death of John I of Castille, and the first meeting (the Spanish term "entrevista" literally means "interview") where Christopher Columbus pitched his idea to Queen Isabel of sailing west to reach India. You can't visit the interior.

However the interview room is recreated, along with other exhibitions, in the nearby House of the Interview (Casa de la Entrevista, Calle San Juan 2). The building was a 16th-century convent for Franciscan nuns. Open Tu-Sa 11:00-14:00 & 17:00-20:00, Su 11:00-14:00.

  • Archaeological Museum. Tu-Sa 11:00-19:00, Su 11:00-15:00.. housed in the 17th C Madre de Dios monastery-college on Plaza de las Bernadas. Prehistoric and Roman finds from the area.
  • House of Hippolytus, west end of town by Av de Madrid (Tu-Su 10:00-14:00, and Sa Su 17:00-20:00. probably a 3rd- or 4th-century college, with well preserved mosaics
  • Castillo de Alcalá la Vieja. The rests of the old Muslim fortress that gave the town its name, partially rebuilt in the 14th and 15th century

La Universidad de Alcalá. Daily 09:00-16:00. Founded in 1499 by Cardinal Cisneros, and the centre of academic excellence in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Visit by guided tour only, hourly in Spanish, in English at 14:00. The tour takes in the ornate plateresque façade, the three interior patios, the mudejar chapel, and the Paraninfo auditorium where the Cervantes Literary Prize is presented by the King annually on April 23. The University goes back to an older institution that did not teach the full range of subjects of a "proper" university founded in the 13th century and was moved to Madrid as the modern day Complutense University in the nineteenth century. In the 20th century a new university was founded in Alcalá. Adult, concessions.

Casa Natal de Cervantes, Calle Mayor 48. Tu-Su 10:00-18:00. This is the house where the famous author of El Ingenioso Hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha was born in 1547, and lived his early days. The museum recreates life in a Spanish house of that period, though perhaps a more stable, prosperous household than Cervantes' own. His father was a barber-surgeon, so the old shaving & blood-letting bowl foretells Don Quixote's mad helmet. The book was widely translated soon after Part One was published in 1605, and there's an impressive collection of translations and other books and manuscripts from around the world. Free admission but to avoid overcrowding they only let in a dozen or so at a time, so there may be a queue.

Hospital de Antezana. a 15th C charity hospital, probably the oldest in Europe in continuous use. Nowadays it's a care home for the elderly.

Cathedral. M-F 08:00-14:00 & 16:00-20:30, Sa Su 09:00-13:00 & 18:00-20:30. was originally 15th C, but rebuilt after fire damage in 1939. It's called a "magisterial" cathedral because its clerics were all masters, ie graduate teachers of the university. Contains the Cripta de los Santos Niños a reliquary dedicated to two children who were supposedly executed for their Christian faith under emperor Diocletian allegedly also containing their mortal remains. It's also Cardinal Cisnero's site of burial although his much more elaborate tomb is found in the Chapel of San Ildefonso on University grounds.

Archbishop's Palace. built as a fortress in the 14-15th century, turned into an episcopal palace in the 16th century, but much of it burnt down in 1939 during the Civil War. It saw the birth of England's Katherine of Aragón and Germany's Emperor Ferdinand, the death of John I of Castille, and the first meeting (the Spanish term "entrevista" literally means "interview") where Christopher Columbus pitched his idea to Queen Isabel of sailing west to reach India. You can't visit the interior.

Archaeological Museum. Tu-Sa 11:00-19:00, Su 11:00-15:00.. housed in the 17th C Madre de Dios monastery-college on Plaza de las Bernadas. Prehistoric and Roman finds from the area.

House of Hippolytus, west end of town by Av de Madrid (Tu-Su 10:00-14:00, and Sa Su 17:00-20:00. probably a 3rd- or 4th-century college, with well preserved mosaics

Castillo de Alcalá la Vieja. The rests of the old Muslim fortress that gave the town its name, partially rebuilt in the 14th and 15th century

  • Corral de Comedias, 15 Plaza de Cervantes. Dating back to 1602 and thus older than Shakespaere's "Globe" in London it claims to be one of the world's oldest theaters even though it hasn't been in use as such without interruption. Both guided tours and plays are on offer.

Corral de Comedias, 15 Plaza de Cervantes. Dating back to 1602 and thus older than Shakespaere's "Globe" in London it claims to be one of the world's oldest theaters even though it hasn't been in use as such without interruption. Both guided tours and plays are on offer.

Alcalá is not the place to find dozens of stores teeming with tourist goods. Typical products of the region include ceramics and jewellery.

Alcalá is known for its almendras garrapiñadas, a sugar-coated almond candy. You can buy them at El Convento de San Clarisas de San Diego (Calle Beatas 5), a cloistered abbey where the nuns make the candies with nothing but "almonds, sugar and love."

There are frequent gastronomic events very tenuously linked to passages in Don Quixote, whose woeful hero ate next to nothing, and enjoyed less.

  • Barataria, +34 918 88 59 25. M-Tu Th-Sa 12:00-16:00 & 20:00-00:00; Su to 16:00; closed W. Restaurant & tapas bar. Good for grilled meat; its specialty dish is ribs with honey.

The Parador restaurant Hosteria del Estudiante (Calle de Colegios 3) is excellent.

Barataria, +34 918 88 59 25. M-Tu Th-Sa 12:00-16:00 & 20:00-00:00; Su to 16:00; closed W. Restaurant & tapas bar. Good for grilled meat; its specialty dish is ribs with honey.

The main strip for bars is along Calle Mayor.

Heading north & east towards Barcelona, spare a day for Zaragoza, which deserves to be better known.

Most other onward destinations will involve transiting Madrid.