Tuesday 22 de febrero
Early morning again to catch the train for Alcalá de Henares (meaning "citadel on the river Henares") with the whole gang of Stanford kids. We met at la Glorieta de Atocha, across from 2 giant baby head sculptures. Traveled 35 km via train to reach the town, which was once a Roman city called Complutum. Famous natives of Alcalá include Catherine of Aragon and -- the city's favorite son -- Miguel de Cervantes.
First: el edificio histórico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Has an impressive Renaissance facade with three clearly defined levels -- like in Kyoto, the 2nd level is reserved for nobility and the top (3rd) for royalty. It represents the humanist knowledge of the Renaissance men. The big shield of the Spanish royalty is flanked by 2 columns (representing Gibraltar, formerly thought to be the end of the world) and two little banners reading "plus" and "extra" which refer to the discovery of the Americas and the ironic reminder that Gibraltar is not the end of the world. Anyway, the university was founded in 1499 by Cardinal Cisneros to demonstrate Spain's commitment to Renaissance humanism and ecclesiastical "modernity". It was also intended to educate future civil servants of the monarchy (remember, Spain's empire was expanding rapidly since 1492, requiring lots of administrators!) The emblem of the university contained a wordplay of Cisneros's name (2 swans = "cisnes" en español). It was considered the center of academic excellence --especially in the humanities -- for the next few centuries, and famous people like Ignatius Loyola taught here. Interestingly, in 1836 the university was translocated to Madrid because the queen thought that such a prestigious university must exist in the capital city. But in 1977, the university here in Alcalá was reopened with the historic buildings, which have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visited a beautiful, sunlit, "trilingual" square (classical Renaissance and Mudejar architecture) where students learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew. We stopped in the grand, high-ceilinged room (once a stable) where the King and Queen of Spain now present the prestigious Cervantes prize to an author of Spanish literature from around the world once each year.
Next stop: El Corral de Comedias. Built in 1601 by the Ayuntamiento de Alcalá, it's well-known for musical performances because the acoustics are so good. Originally, it was kind of like a Shakespeare theater -- the masses congregated, standing up, in front of the stage while the upper decks and balconies were reserved for the upper class and female spectators. We got to check out the backstage area and some of the machines used to make rumbling "rain" and "thunder" noises. The building spent a few decades as a cinema, but now it's used for live theater, dance and musical performances again.
Next, las capillas (chapels) de Antezana y del Oider, founded in the 15th century by Don Pedro Diaz de Toledo, advisor to the King Juan II. Inside are collections of publications and artwork related to Don Quixote because Cervantes was baptized here October 9th, 1547. We saw the document which recorded the baptism and watched a cheesy little movie (with background music that sounded gospelly) about Cervantes.
Centro histórico: wandered the main streets, old Jewish quarter, lots of old brick/clay buildings standing with wooden stilts and with wooden beams.
The Hospital Antezana where Cervantes's father worked (as a "surgeon-bleeder") was under construction so we couldn't enter. However, I was impressed because it was founded in 1483 for the poor, sick and pilgrims and has operated continuously with that purpose since then! I believe it is the oldest, continuously running hospital in Europe.
Museo Casa Natal (birth place and childhood home) de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. He was born in this beautiful little house (it has an inner courtyard and rooms all around -- like Cordoban patios!) in 1547. The lower floor was where daily life took place (women's sewing, embroidery room, a kitchen, dining room, surgeon's office) and above they had lounges and bedrooms (including children's bedroom). A few of the upper rooms are now devoted to displaying various editions of Don Quixote in different languages. Brief bio of Cervantes: went to Italy in his youth, enlisted in army, fought, was wounded, captured by Turks in 1575, taken to Algeria as a slave, but rescued five years later by Fathers of the Holy Trinity. Published the first part of Don Quixote in 1605 and had immediate success with it. Published more in the next few years and died in 1616.
After visiting the house, we had free time. The only thing actually open, aside from some restaurants (since it was the hour of siesta) was McDonald's so we sat in the main square, enjoying beautiful sunshine and making sure the big dark clouds didn't come any closer!
Returned to Madrid, stopped by Hotel Mora to see Mamma and then I went for a run through Retiro since it was such a nice day. Met up again with Mamma and we went to a greek-ish-vegetarian restaurant called Artemesia -- how appropriate given lecture yesterday. I had an enormous salad with all kinds of tropical fruit and mamma had the eggplant specialty (thus I learned that the word for eggplant in Spanish is berejena.
Since Mamma had a taxi ordered for 4am, we called it a night after dinner. It was so nice to have her here and to be able to explore Madrid together!
Early morning again to catch the train for Alcalá de Henares (meaning "citadel on the river Henares") with the whole gang of Stanford kids. We met at la Glorieta de Atocha, across from 2 giant baby head sculptures. Traveled 35 km via train to reach the town, which was once a Roman city called Complutum. Famous natives of Alcalá include Catherine of Aragon and -- the city's favorite son -- Miguel de Cervantes.
First: el edificio histórico de la Universidad de Alcalá. Has an impressive Renaissance facade with three clearly defined levels -- like in Kyoto, the 2nd level is reserved for nobility and the top (3rd) for royalty. It represents the humanist knowledge of the Renaissance men. The big shield of the Spanish royalty is flanked by 2 columns (representing Gibraltar, formerly thought to be the end of the world) and two little banners reading "plus" and "extra" which refer to the discovery of the Americas and the ironic reminder that Gibraltar is not the end of the world. Anyway, the university was founded in 1499 by Cardinal Cisneros to demonstrate Spain's commitment to Renaissance humanism and ecclesiastical "modernity". It was also intended to educate future civil servants of the monarchy (remember, Spain's empire was expanding rapidly since 1492, requiring lots of administrators!) The emblem of the university contained a wordplay of Cisneros's name (2 swans = "cisnes" en español). It was considered the center of academic excellence --especially in the humanities -- for the next few centuries, and famous people like Ignatius Loyola taught here. Interestingly, in 1836 the university was translocated to Madrid because the queen thought that such a prestigious university must exist in the capital city. But in 1977, the university here in Alcalá was reopened with the historic buildings, which have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visited a beautiful, sunlit, "trilingual" square (classical Renaissance and Mudejar architecture) where students learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew. We stopped in the grand, high-ceilinged room (once a stable) where the King and Queen of Spain now present the prestigious Cervantes prize to an author of Spanish literature from around the world once each year.
Next stop: El Corral de Comedias. Built in 1601 by the Ayuntamiento de Alcalá, it's well-known for musical performances because the acoustics are so good. Originally, it was kind of like a Shakespeare theater -- the masses congregated, standing up, in front of the stage while the upper decks and balconies were reserved for the upper class and female spectators. We got to check out the backstage area and some of the machines used to make rumbling "rain" and "thunder" noises. The building spent a few decades as a cinema, but now it's used for live theater, dance and musical performances again.
Next, las capillas (chapels) de Antezana y del Oider, founded in the 15th century by Don Pedro Diaz de Toledo, advisor to the King Juan II. Inside are collections of publications and artwork related to Don Quixote because Cervantes was baptized here October 9th, 1547. We saw the document which recorded the baptism and watched a cheesy little movie (with background music that sounded gospelly) about Cervantes.
Centro histórico: wandered the main streets, old Jewish quarter, lots of old brick/clay buildings standing with wooden stilts and with wooden beams.
The Hospital Antezana where Cervantes's father worked (as a "surgeon-bleeder") was under construction so we couldn't enter. However, I was impressed because it was founded in 1483 for the poor, sick and pilgrims and has operated continuously with that purpose since then! I believe it is the oldest, continuously running hospital in Europe.
Museo Casa Natal (birth place and childhood home) de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. He was born in this beautiful little house (it has an inner courtyard and rooms all around -- like Cordoban patios!) in 1547. The lower floor was where daily life took place (women's sewing, embroidery room, a kitchen, dining room, surgeon's office) and above they had lounges and bedrooms (including children's bedroom). A few of the upper rooms are now devoted to displaying various editions of Don Quixote in different languages. Brief bio of Cervantes: went to Italy in his youth, enlisted in army, fought, was wounded, captured by Turks in 1575, taken to Algeria as a slave, but rescued five years later by Fathers of the Holy Trinity. Published the first part of Don Quixote in 1605 and had immediate success with it. Published more in the next few years and died in 1616.
After visiting the house, we had free time. The only thing actually open, aside from some restaurants (since it was the hour of siesta) was McDonald's so we sat in the main square, enjoying beautiful sunshine and making sure the big dark clouds didn't come any closer!
Returned to Madrid, stopped by Hotel Mora to see Mamma and then I went for a run through Retiro since it was such a nice day. Met up again with Mamma and we went to a greek-ish-vegetarian restaurant called Artemesia -- how appropriate given lecture yesterday. I had an enormous salad with all kinds of tropical fruit and mamma had the eggplant specialty (thus I learned that the word for eggplant in Spanish is berejena.
Since Mamma had a taxi ordered for 4am, we called it a night after dinner. It was so nice to have her here and to be able to explore Madrid together!
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