If I Were Going...: The Man Goes to La Mancha

The windmills of La Mancha (Urda)

As I mentioned in my last posts, Madrid is lovely and has some nice places, but it actually left us a little flat. Nothing wrong ... just nothing magical. And, nothing to really prepare us for our next adventures.

We headed out as early as we could, considering NOTHING is open for breakfast before 9:00 (Spaniards really don't get up early - even early morning deliveries are made at 8:00 a.m.) and our hotel breakfast began at 7:30. Plus, the rental car agency didn't open until 9:00.

Ou day's destination was Segovia, but we decided to detour south to hit two places I hadn't totally planned on going: La Mancha and Toledo. Why I hadn't planned on them? I have no idea. Rookie mistake. So glad we went. Scott really wanted to go to see both, especially the windmills.

It's as cool as you would guess

We decided to hit La Mancha -- actually the 11 Don Quixote windmills in Urda -- first. It was less than an hour past Madrid in heavy traffic that completely evaporated after we passed Toledo. The sprawl that looks like any big city gave way to rolling hills, castle ruins, olive trees and ancient vineyards. The freshly pruned vines were enormous. Plus, the rows of vines went on forever. The soil is very red and the grass and flowers are very bright.

View from the hill

We followed the GPS to Urda and then eyeballed it to the windmills, driving narrow streets through the tiny town.

Town

There were some buses and tourists on top of the hill, but it wasn't terribly crowded. The morning was gorgeous and we just wandered, shooting pictures.

There they are!

La Mancha, a natural and historical region located on an arid but fertile, elevated plateau, constitutes the southern portion of Castilla-La Mancha; its inhabitants are called manchegos (like the cheese).

A picturesque town

Among the famous Spaniards from the area is director Pedro Almodóvar and Miguel de Cervantes' fictional Don Quixote of the "impossible dream."

To dream ...

Cervantes' novel Don Quixote de La Mancha follows the adventures of self-named Don Quixote, who loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs and bring justice to the world. His squire, Sancho Panza, employs wit in dealing with Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood.

A singular view

Just hanging out in a windmill

Cervantes was actually making fun of the region in the book, using a play on words because "mancha" is also a stain (as a stain on your honor).

He probably chose the area because it was "ordinary and anti-romantic," therefore making it an unlikely place from which a chivalrous, romantic hero could originate, making Quixote seem even more absurd.

The windmills, which were used to grind grain from the 1600s to the 1980s, certainly looked romantic to me as did the 12th century castle next to them.