A town to discover near granada
Let’s imagine we travel around Spain. We plan to go to Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Sevilla and of course Granada. We can visit the “big five” of Spain, but, we would love to know a little bit more about local lives. Gastronomy, traditions, and still immersed in its history. Let me tell you, you cannot miss Alcalá la Real, a big little town in your way from Córdoba to Granada. It is a town to discover near Granada, THE town.
The town began in a secure place, inside the fortress at the top of Mota hill. During the wars between the Andalusis and the Castilians, the fortress served as a border line for years.
Years after the Conquest, living within walls was difficult and unusefull as there were no more battles. So it is, that the people from Alcalá decided to change their home and moved down the hill. Why? Because it was more comfortable. And from this moment, they started building what today is our second old town.
We will start coming down the Real street, one of the first one built in the new town. At the bottom of it, we will find one of the numerous churches, but in this case, the biggest and most popular of all the town Consolación church.
Opposite this church, you will find the moorish statue, a place that reminds us the origin and a famous legend of the town. And there you will find also the main street of the town, the popular “Llanillo” that will lead us to the rest of the old town.
carrera de las mercedes, or Llanillo street
This large street call “el Llanillo” is the main artery in Alcalas old town. At both side there are numerous modernist buildings conceived by a local bricklayer who was self-educated. These buildings have beautiful facades from the beginning of the XX century. Also, you can find other buildings like churches and the museum of Palacio Abacial that are from XVI century. These were built with the typical limestone, a stone excavated in the surroundings of the town.
If we leave for a moment the street, we can also see the city hall, also a limestone building, and a place where used to be the market, but that today is a place for leisure time with restaurant. Here, you can get to know one of the most famous alcalaínos called Juan Martinez Montañés.
at the other side of the street
At the end of the street we will see how the place gets wider. There is a park called “los Álamos” where you can have a relaxing cup of coffee. But if you finish here, you should know this was for a long time the end of the town, as the buildings surrounding it are from middle XX century.
The Pilar de los Álamos, a fountain at one side, was built to show to every visitor that the town was majestic. It was also a social space where people use to gather next to the water.
And the Paseo de los Álamos was a big terrace where many years ago soldiers could exercise, cattle was sold in special fairs, or the farmering lands started.
Alcalá la Real is a beautiful town full of history. So many that it has town centre towns, where you can learn about Andalusi times, inside the fortress of la Mota; or about a not so far story, in the modern city. All full with traditions, gastronomy, legends, religion and a way of life that at a beginning was forged in a border line and very conflictive times.
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