This Place is Old, Man

We live in a very good location: we are two streets away from the Plaza de Cervantes, which is more or less the center of the historical district and of the part of town that concerns us. We are a three minute walk from our employer's office and several of our classrooms. We are close to a convenient grocery store and not far at all from the supermarket, several cafes, a few parks, and the river. Luckily for us we can walk where ever we might need to go. This area of Alcala is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Many of the streets are still cobblestone and the sidewalks are chipped brick. This limits traffic and pedestrians are encouraged by the sights. We live essentially next door to the University, which is still functioning despite its reputation as one of the oldest in Europe. She is over 500 years old!! (Pretty impressive to me...my own university was built in 1917 and has yet to survive Roman conquest or civil war). We are also surrounded by massive footprints of Catholicism, gargantuan (working) convents, hermitages, and incredible cathedrals, including the one in the Plaza de Santos Ninos, built to honor children that were martyred for their families' beliefs in (according to what I was told) the 400s. On the rooftops of these aging buildings, especially those with towers overlooking the city, one can see the nests of storks. I am told I will be able to hear their bill clattering communication during mating season. I am determined to spot a stork and have not even come close in succeeding.

Alcala de Henares is the birth place of Cervantes, the Spanish writer who produced Don Quixote. Here, you can visit a recreation of the Cervantes home and the city celebrates this celebrity with vigor. Every place you go, you see Cervantes and Don Quixote, in bronze statues, on the coins, in the shop windows, and of course, in the Plaza de Cervantes, where Cervantes stands tall, overlooking the square, quill poised to record what he sees.