When you walk down the streets of Alcalá de Henares, the look and feel of Medieval and Renaissance Spain is all around you. With a population of 200,000, Alcalá boasts quiet, winding cobbled streets and gorgeous medieval buildings. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Alcalá is the home of author Miguel Cervantes, whose novel, Don Quijote, has inspired readers and thinkers for over 500 years. The city celebrates the birthday of this famous son every year in October, with the delightful fiestas cervantinas that attract tourists from all over Spain and Europe. Like Madrid, Alcalá is home to a growing immigrant population (around 20%), and thus features an increasingly diverse group of inhabitants. Linked to Madrid by an efficient and well-equipped public transportation system, students studying on the Alcalá program are only a 45-minute ride away from downtown Madrid, on city train or bus. The Alcalá Program center is located in the Facultad de Documentación at the UAH (Universidad de Alcalá) and students attend classes at the UAH and also at the Program Center in Madrid (located in downtown Madrid).
Enjoy these photos that show side-by-side street scenes of historical and contemporary Alcalá de Henares.
