Alcalá de Henares, Spain (and the house where Cervantes was born!)

Alcalá de Henares was a smaller town.  I arrived at 8:30 am and the streets were empty.  It was strange.  I thought maybe I had been plopped down into a post zombie apocalyptic world.  I love the Walking Dead, so zombies come to my mind quickly when I'm alone on the street. 

So, Alcalá de Henares is just a 20-30 minute train ride from Madrid. 

I visited the house where Cervantes was born and I can't believe that I forgot to take a picture.  I was so excited to go in I didn't even stop. Inside we weren't allowed to take pictures...so I didn't.

This sign almost says my birthday. haha It needs to say 1 de marzo!  But, it's close enough.

These pictures are from the Archeological museum.  It was an excellent museum. It was 4 floors of bones, dishes, jewelry, videos and a ton of information.  I liked it a lot. 

This is a sabertooth tiger skull! Look at those teeth!

This is the old city wall.

I want to know what bird makes a nest this large!

Valladolid, Spain (and the House of Cervantes!)

This weekend I traveled to Valladolid and Alcalá de Henares.

Valladolid is where the Catholic Kings were married in Oct 18, 1469.  It was also the capital of Spain twice in history. It's name came from the 8th century Muslim Caliph name Al-Walid.  Christopher Columbus died there, author Francisco de Quevedo and Spanish literature rockstar Miguel de Cervantes lived there from 1603-1606 when the first part of his book, Don Quijote, was published.

It's a very important city in Spain's history!

This is the smallest gas station I have ever seen! 

I visited the house where Cervantes lived.  For Spanish literature buffs, Miguel de Cervantes is only the author of probably (my opinion-I have a Master's degree in Spanish Language and Literature, I can say this!) the most important and culturally significant book in all of Spanish literature. There are a few others that also fall into this category but at one time, this book was printed at a rate only second to the Bible, and we are talking about in the 1600's! It is documented that he moved here because he became a tax collector and was part of a lawsuit and it listed his address and it was this house.