Alcalá de Henares

Storks in Alcala de Henares. Photo © Johannes Bjørner 2012        

Every time I see the storks in Alcalá de Henares, it is magical. How many are there? Twenty, thirty, forty? All around Plaza de Cervantes they perch on the tops of buildings, or fly, or--at this time of year, at least--build nests. We first stumbled onto Alcalá, the Plaza de Cervantes, and the storks one June afternoon several years ago when we spent the night in this town not far outside of Madrid on a trip to catch an early morning plane out of Barrajas. In June 2009 we returned to Alcalá for an afternoon and evening with a group of Danish visitors during an engineering school reunion; we were all enchanted by watching the storks in late afternoon, as the sky turned dark blue and faded to dusk, while we waited for our restaurant to open at 8:30 for Spanish dinner. Now, the fourth weekend in March, we returned to Alcalá once again, this time with a couple we have known for forty years. We spent two nights in this old city, and that gave us the opportunity to pass through the Plaza de Cervantes many times and enjoy watching the storks go about their business.

Alcalá is also famous as the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote. We visited a museum in the house of his birth. Finally. As I mentioned, we had been in Alcalá twice before, and both times arrived too late in the day for entrance to the museum. So this was a must-see on this trip. Our friends humored me and we went straightaway to the house Saturday afternoon, immediately after arriving on the regional train from Madrid, checking in to our hotel, and getting a light bite to eat at a table in the sun on the Calle Mayor, between Plaza Cervantes and the little museum. I was surprised to learn that Cervantes only lived in this house for the first four years of his life, and I read on a tourist brochure just before going that "very little is known of his early life." Still, it was interesting to see the structure of a house of that period (1547-1616). It was handsomely restored, and two rooms were devoted to Quixote first editions, or other rare volumes, in various languages.

We spent quite a bit of time walking around the old city and saw some of the Jewish quarter and some churches, and other historic sites. But I still have to see Complutense university, which dates back to 1293, so there will probably be another trip some time in the future, to meander around those ancient buildings, and to see the  storks again.