Finding Miguel De Cervantes in Alcalá De Henares!

On the day I went to Alcalá de Henares, from my hotel in Madrid, I took a short subway ride from the Sol Station (at Puerta del Sol) to Atocha Station (read blog here). And since I already knew how to buy my train tickets from the ticket machine from my look-see the day before, I came, I bought, I wandered! Wandered through the station and caught my train to Alcalá de Henares, that is! 

                       (The reliable Renfe train)

The train ride from Atocha Station to the Alcalá de Henares Station was just about 23 minutes, and I was surprised I was the only passenger in one of the cars!😍

                   (I had the train all to myself!😎)

I got there at noon, and unfortunately, the tourist information kiosk next to the train station was closed; I needed a map! Instead, I asked for directions from the taxi driver waiting by the station. And thanks to his help, I was able to find Calle Mayor after 20 minutes of walking through the residential neighborhoods.

Alcalá de Henares means 'a fortress by the Henares River'. Yes, there's a river near the city.

                   (The younger side of the city)

Alcalá de Henares has an ancient settlement that dates back before Romans came to Spain. It's about 35 kilometers east of Madrid. This is 'a city of three cultures' that include Moorish, Jewish and Christian cultures, and is a UN World Heritage Site.

                               (Calle Mayor)

                                 (Fall sale) 

When I was planning the itinerary for this tour, I decided to include one trip outside of Madrid, and after studying the map, I decided on Alcalá de Henares because, one, it is the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the famous Don Quixote, and, two, I wanted to taste their rosquillas de Alcalá, a puffy, tall donut-shaped pastry bathed in egg yolk and sugar glaze! Yes, food and pastry should always be in one's itinerary, and not just history and palaces. 

               (The famous rosquillas de Alcalá)

Having covered on foot the younger streets from the train station up to the centuries-old Calle Mayor, I continued lazily around the old streets of Calle Escritos, Calle Sta. Ursula and ending up on Capilla de Oidor and Plaza de Cervantes. 

   (One of the oldest hospitals in Europe: Antigo Hospital Beneficio de Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia)

          (An entrance to the Universidad de Alcalá)

Passing through ancient alleyways and stumbling upon a hospital dating back to 1483, I was so fascinated knowing that this old city was flourishing even before Fernando de Magallanes arrived in the Philippines! 

And inside the Capilla de Oidor at the Plaza Rodriguez Marin, which was right next to Plaza de Cervantes, I visited an exhibition of the life and works of Miguel de Cervantes. 

                 (Visitors can climb the Torre de 
                     Sta. Maria on weekends) 

Behind the Capilla was the tourist information center and I was able to get a map. I asked the señorita whether I could climb the Torre de Sta. Maria. Unfortunately, she said, the Torre was closed that day. The 360-degree view of the city at the Torre could have been fantastic. 

In the middle of Plaza Cervantes was the statue of the most famous son of Alcalá de Henares. It was past noon when I walked around the Plaza; a few youngsters playing around, old señores sitting and chatting, a group of tourists and one Filipino eavesdropping as to what they were talking about. 😆

The statue of Miguel de Cervantes lords over his plaza as if always waiting to lecture his visitors as to why his works remain the most popular in the Spanish literary world.

          (Art works about Don Quixote 
           are everywhere in the city)

In Manila, I studied at Instituto Cervantes to improve my Spanish, and that afternoon, in Plaza Cervantes, I stood there looking up at the statue of the writer after whom the Spanish language institute was named. 

            (Students posing with Don Quixote 
                 and Sancho Panza in front 
                      of Cervantes' home)

I may never be fluent in Spanish, and I may never be able to read all the works of Miguel de Cervantes, but being there right in the middle of his birthplace and standing under his shadow should be a good start to learning about Spain's greatest writer.

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P.S. I immediately ate two rosquillas de Alcalá when I got to my hotel in Madrid that afternoon. 😃

Next stop, la casa de Miguel de Cervantes (read blog here).

The Real Madrid: The Grandiose Atocha Station

Part of my Madrid tour was a side trip to Alcalá de Henares, the hometown of Miguel de Cervantes, Spain's greatest writer.

While researching before my trip, I learned that I had to take a Renfe train from Madrid-Atocha Station to Alcalá de Henares. On my second day, I took the tour bus around Madrid and hopped off at the Museo Reina Sofía stop to get to Atocha Station for a look-see.

      (Passing through Calle Mayor on the             Madrid hop-on-hop-off tourist bus)

But alighting at the stop and walking towards the station, I chanced upon KFC across the road, and since I was getting hungry, I decided to go in.

Interestingly, just like at Starbucks in Manila, Lidira, the KFC crew who took my order, asked for my name so she could call me when my order was ready. I told her, "Me llamo Alfonso, Rey Alfonso." ("My name is Alfonso, King Alfonso"). She smiled. I knew that the Spanish history was full of kings named Alfonso, and she probably smiled thinking that here was another pretender to the Spanish throne lining up at her counter and ordering fried chicken. Ja-ja-ja!

         (Fast food lunch fit for a king)

After munching down lunch, I hurried towards the Station, and even before I crossed the street, the whole structure was impressively huge. It didn't look like a train station; it looked like a sports stadium!

              (Atocha Station's dome)

Although the purpose of my look-see was to ask about the schedule of trains heading to Alcalá de Henares, I was distracted by the beauty of the whole station.

It was spacious with very high ceilings, airy and had shops, cafés, restaurants, a garden and a pond! With turtles! Lots of turtles! 

         (Turtles by the pond discussing 
                    Spanish politics)

The whole station was so interesting and unique that, if I didn't have a schedule to keep, I would have sat in one of the cafés, ordered coffee and watched commuters the whole afternoon! Atocha didn't feel like a train station; it felt like a plaza! It should be one of the most beautiful stations in Europe!

The station was inaugurated on February 9, 1851, under its original name Estación de Mediodía, but was rebuilt in 1892 after a fire. The architect of the 1892 structure was the Spanish engineer Señor Alberto Palacio Elissagne, who collaborated with no less than Gustave Eiffel, Señor Alberto's teacher. No wonder the station was all lines of steel and wrought iron that provided an 'industrial' feel.

(The Station's centerpiece clock telling the time through the wrought iron lines)

In the morning of March 11, 2004, coordinated terror bombings hit trains leaving Alcalá de Henares (which I was visiting during my trip), including one train heading to Atocha Station. One hundred ninety-two were killed, including one Filipino, and a memorial was built for the victims next to Atocha Station.   

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Next stop, Alcalá de Henares.