Alcalá de Henares, with about 200,000 inhabitants, is the second city of the Community of Madrid, on the Henares river about 30 km from the capital. Its historic centre and university have been a UNESCO site since 1998, as the first planned university city, a model for many cities in Europe and the Americas.
History
Founded as Roman Complutum, it later became Muslim al-Qal'at, which gave it its name. In 1499 Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros founded the university, where in the 16th century the famous Complutensian Polyglot Bible was printed in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin. In 1547 Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, was born here. In the 19th century the university moved to Madrid, becoming the Complutense; Alcalá's was refounded in 1977.
What to see
- The College of San Ildefonso, the university's historic seat, with its plateresque façade, cloisters and the Paraninfo, where each year the King presents the Cervantes Prize, the most important award in Spanish-language literature.
- The Cervantes Birthplace Museum, a reconstructed 16th-century house on Calle Mayor, one of Spain's longest arcaded streets.
- The magistral cathedral of Saints Justus and Pastor, one of only two churches in the world with the title of magistral.
- The Corral de Comedias, from 1601, one of Europe's oldest working theatres.
- Plaza de Cervantes, the Archbishop's Palace and the convents.
- The storks, nesting by the dozen on bell towers and roofs.
- The remains of Complutum and the Roman villa of the House of Hippolytus.
Festivals and food
The Cervantes Week, around 9 October, the anniversary of Cervantes's baptism, with a medieval market. The patron saint festivities are in late August. Local sweets are almendras garrapiñadas, caramelised almonds made by the Poor Clare nuns, and costradas. In bars every drink often comes with a generous free tapa.
Getting there
Cercanías trains link Madrid Atocha and Chamartín with Alcalá in about 35-40 minutes. Madrid-Barajas airport is about 20 km away. See also Madrid.