When you arrive to Alcalá de Henares you will visit the most important monuments of the city and, of course, you should go to the Alcalá University. Its cloisters and the main hall, which each 23th of April hosts the Cervantes Award, present a wide range of decorative elements. So, you are strolling by the corridors that once Quevedo, Lope de Vega or Calderón de la Barca went round.
It was born in the 17th century and we aren’t speaking about the University, but about the Mayor Street. During the years it has suffered some changes, but it still at the same place acting like the most important shopping area of the city. Flanked by numerous buildings, some of them are so important that you can’t skip them. For instance, the number 4 of the Imagen Street hosts the house where Cervantes was born in 1547 and where he enjoyed his childhood.
Very important is to taste the Alcalá de Henares’s gastronomy: garlic soup, roasted lamb, fresh vegetables and, without forget, the sweet things as rosquillas (donuts), caramel-coated almonds or cakes.
Before to leave the city, you should contemplate the storks. Alcalá de Henares has the biggest concentration of these animals in the Community of Madrid. From December to August they stay in the municipality and they give their chicks birth.
