Calle de Alcolea
Takes its name from Alcolea, a place name shared by several Spanish towns, from the Andalusi Arabic al-qulayʿa, “the little fortress”.
The name travels from Andalusi Arabic. Al-qulayʿa is the diminutive of al-qalʿa, “the castle”, so Alcolea means something like “the little castle”. The same root left place names across the peninsula, such as Alcalá or Calatayud, a trace of the fortified points of Al-Andalus.
So Alcolea points not to a single place but to a family of towns. The best known is the one in Córdoba, beside the bridge over the Guadalquivir where in September 1868 Serrano’s troops defeated those loyal to Isabella II and pushed the queen into exile.
Which of all these Alcoleas the namer of this Almenara street meant was never recorded. Today it is a short stretch, barely a hundred metres, carrying without knowing it the echo of a small vanished fortress.