Alcala de Henares

Nov. 1 is a national holiday in Spain for All Saints Day. We had no classes, so I took a short trip by train to the nearby city of Alcalá de Henares. The city is famous for its 500-year-old university and for being the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes.

The picture above is of one of the churches. I took the picture when I realized that one of the statues is headless, and on looking closer, that the façade of the church has many repaired bullet holes. I assumed this was a mark of the civil war. The Wikipedia article linked to above has some incomplete information but seems to suggest that the city was the site of civil war violence.

As in Astorga, I mostly enjoyed just walking around. I didn't even bother to go into the museum that was once Cervantes' home. I did see the archeological museum with some gorgeous Roman frescos. But best of all were the storks, which nest in the city. At one point about 20 of them flew high overhead. What a beautiful sight!