Alcalá de Henares. Chinchón
Cervantish and intense in history, Alcalá
de Henares is a village with lots of lineage. You get there by
taking the highway that connects Madrid with Guadalajara.
Leaving the Barajas Airport to one side, you really should go
to Torrejón de Ardoz that, in spite of being modern, possesses
the so-called Big House, a museum of icons, which contains some
very noteworthy pieces. Continuing our route, we soon spot Alcalá,
to which we will make a thorough visit without missing a single
angle of its surroundings filled with monuments. Its university,
dating from the year 1498, was founded by Cardenal Cisneros and
was set up in a renaissance-style building, which vigorous facade
is the work of Rodrigo Gil de Ontafión.
Through the centuries the University of Alcalá has been
justifiably famous in the cultural sphere. The House of Cervantes,
on Mayor Street, is a reproduction of the typical houses of that
period where this universal author of Quijote lived, built with
notable mastery on a lot where they say that the parents of Cervantes
lived.
The Archbishop’s Palace is another architectural jewel in
Alcalá de Henares and, although about to be completely
destroyed by a ravenous fire, conserves some very important renaissance
elements. The Monastery of the Bernardas is very close by. There
are some valuable religious paintings and ornaments in the church.
Alcalá conserves the ruins of a wall, brick and masonry
that dates back to the XIV century.
Taking N-II out of Alcalá, we turn off onto M-226, which
will take us to Santos de Humosa, Santorcaz and Loeches. There
we can enjoy a beautiful view of the plains of the Henares River.
On the way to Chinchón, we will pass through Campo Real,
Nuevo Baztán, Valdilecha, Villarejo de Salvanés,
Fuentidueña and Colmenar de Oreja. It is well worth a stop
in some of these places to make a very brief visit to its streets
and plazas.
Once in Chinchón, we can visit its proud castle of the
XIV century, its picturesque and original Main Plaza, with its
porches and glazed houses, its Monastery of the Augustines now
converted into a National Tourism Inn, its Convent of the Clarisas
and its magnificent examples of noble architecture, of which the
Casa de la Cadena of the stands out. We go through Tajuña
and Arganda del Rey on the road back to Madrid.
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