Free guide to
visit Alcalá de Henares in just a morning: Plaza de Cervantes, Calle Mayor,
University of Alcalá, Santa María’s tower and many more places.
Is it possible to visit Alcalá in
just a morning? Alcalá has a big number of monuments to be visited, but yes,
you can visit Alcalá in a morning and discover all the essential places which
make Alcalá so special and international.
With
that aim, we recommend you to start your visit from the core of the historical
city center, its most emblematic square: plaza de Cervantes. Start your
route heading for the central part of the square, meeting point par excellence
for Alcalá’s inhabitants—the statue of the noble writer Miguel de
Cervantes, author of “Don Quixote”.
Plaza
de Cervantes.
As starting point of your walking, take a few minutes to contemplate the entire
square, looking around you to have a general view. First of all, you will
probably fix your attention in the fact that there are two sides of the square
with arcades along them and two without them.
This
is due to the distribution of population during the mediaeval period, in which arcades
cover the territory where the city was placed, while the opposite sides were
the unpopulated fields. Both, the weekly market as well as all important
events, were held in there—including bullfights until nineteenth century.
If
you look the lonely Santa María’s tower, you will see on your right the City
Council, a hospital-convent for monks, called Agonizantes’, from
seventeenth century, which was turned into a local doctor’s office during the
nineteenth century. The outstanding element is the clock tower, though it was
not built until 1944. In front of the City Council, you can admire a bandstand,
made by wrought iron in the nineteenth century.
Slightly
turning to the right, under the arcades, the entry to Corral de Comedias
can be observed. The place holds the oldest theatre of Europe, where you can
enjoy wonderful theatre and musical performances.
In
front of Corral de Comedias, on the other side of the square, the flight
of steps of Círculo de Contribuyentes might be observed. The building is
considered as the head office of Condueños Society, made up by neighbors
who with unselfish intention saved the university buildings from sacking and
collapse.
For
more information about Círculo de Contribuyentes and Condueños
Society, click here.
http://www.dream-alcala.com/en/circulo-de-contribuyentes-and-conduenos-society/
The
University.
If you turn your sight to the left and cross the square, you will find yourself
headed to the University of Alcalá, whose square is accessible from
calle Pedro Gumiel—architect of the institution created by Cardinal Cisneros.
In the first place, you will find San Ildefonso Chapel, recently
restored and worthy to visit.
When
facing the university façade, you may find the better perspective to see
it by standing in front of the main entrance, and taking some distance to be
able to contemplate it in its whole magnificence. This façade is one of the
keys for the proclaiming of Alcalá as World Heritage city in 1998
Next, you can follow a little route through its interior, going across its famous three gardens in a row, so different in their ambiences and activities. In the last one, on the right, the Paraninfo’s door is placed, where every 23rd of April, the Cervantes Prize for Literature is awarded.
Coming
back to the second garden, on the left wide and through a quiet and evocative
alley, you will come out again to plaza de Cervantes.
http://www.dream-alcala.com/en/university-of-alcala/
Calle
Mayor. At
this point, you can cross the square diagonally to the right, heading to calle
Mayor, the longest street of Spain and second in Europe with arcades in all
its extension—390 meters. During the Middle Ages, it divided Muslim and Jewish
quarters of the city.
Previously,
as you enter calle Mayor, looking to the right, you will see yourself in
a yard full of coffees and bars where having a snack. If you want to have a
break, you can do it in there as well as in the several catering establishments
of the arcades, where you can enjoy some of the typical tapas while drinking a
good wine, beer or soft drink.
For
more information about calle Mayor, click here . http://www.dream-alcala.com/en/university-of-alcala/
Teatro
Salón Cervantes. On the right sidewalk, calle Cervantes is placed.
There, you can enter and contemplate—at the end of the road on the right
side—the modern façade of Teatro Salón Cervantes, and its programming
showed on ticket offices and windows.
For
more information about Teatro Salón Cervantes, click here. http://www.dream-alcala.com/en/teatro-salon-cervantes/
Coming
back to calle Mayor, around the middle of the street, you will find
Hospitalillo—the traditional name of what today is known as Antezana’s
Hospital —, whose backyard is full of mediaeval reminiscence. Just next to
it, another crucial architectural contribution for Alcalá’s fame is situated:
the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, a museum able to be visited, as
well as an interesting place for discovering in depth the professional and
domestic life of the writer in such period along its visit.
As you
exit—or enter!—the house of the most notable Spanish writer, you can rest for a
moment with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, or more appropriately said, with
their sculptures, on the stone bench in front of the house.
Corral
de la Sinagoga. In front of Cervantes Birthplace, there is an
entrance to Corral de la Sinagoga, a narrow alley leading the place
where, in the Middle Ages, one of the two synagogues of the city, the Great
one, was placed. From the square, a modern-grilled door gives access to the
current plaza de los Irlandeses, where the school of the same name is located.
However, we will take up such place later on during our visit.
Going
around the interior of that small square, by the right side, you will come back
again to calle Mayor, and if, in the meanwhile, you take a look to the
ceiling, you will find from time to time a surprise over some of the doors.
Little loopholes or small windows can be observed, used in the old times by the
occupants of the upper house to check who was knocking their door and if he was
or was not a friend.
http://i2.wp.com/www.dream-alcala.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Catedral-Magistral-1.jpghttp://i2.wp.com/www.dream-alcala.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Catedral-Magistral-1.jpg
For more information about Magisterial Cathedral, click here http://www.dream-alcala.com/en/the-magisterial-cathedral/.
Oidor
Chapel and its tower. To finish the visit with an
unforgettable experience, you can enjoy the visit to Oidor Chapel, where
the font in which Miguel de Cervantes was baptized is preserved. Finally, do
not miss to go up another magnificent tower, Santa María’s, where you
will enjoy another time Alcalá in its whole extension from a new aerial
perspective, in this case, a view of the eastern region of the historical city
center and the university.
We
hope you enjoyed the visit.