Alcala de Henares

Last Friday we took a little day trip to the town Alcala de Henares. It is about 30 minutes from our house and it had been on our list of places to check out for awhile now. It is a University town and the birthplace of Cervantes- the guy who wrote Don Quixote. It is also a UNESCO heritage site so that means old and cute, which I love! One of the benefits of living in Spain is you are always close to pueblos with thousands of years of history and amazing things to see.
So we set out and had planned to have lunch there and walk around and take pictures.  Once we arrived and found parking we decided to first stop in a bar for a quick beer before lunch. This is when we learned that this town does tapas a little different than we are use to in Madrid. First we ordered a beer and were informed to choose a tapa from the menu they had on the counter. At first we weren't really sure how it worked- does this tapa come with the drink or do they cost extra? so we each picked a tapa and waited. We ordered bocadillos with pork. I imagined a little bite sized bocadillo to accompany the beer. But our tapas turned out to be big bocadillos (sandwiches) and with the beer it was only 2.40 each. We were really surprised and decided to skip lunch and do a bar crawl instead- taking pictures and enjoying the culture along they way of course.

Pablo with Sancho Panza (Don Quixote's friend)

Me with both Pancho and Quixote- Cervante's house in the background

This street is the longest in the world with the buildings supported by columns
as in the picture

Fun water spouts

View of the longest street with column

Our second bar stop and our "tapas" (hamburger and potatoes) with beers- 5 euros

Main plaza

Lots and lots of storks

City buildings

Palace where Columbus and Queen Isabel had their first meeting

Puerta de Madrid (there is one in Madrid called Puerta de Alcala

Stork nest on top of the old wall