Don Quixote's windmills
Well maybe. Miguel de Cervantes story of Don Quixote was published in the early 17th century. The story was set in La Mancha, from the Arabic “parched earth”. Just above the village of Consuegra there is a ruined 12th century castle and a small cluster of windmills. This has to be the setting for the story of the man fighting the hopeless battle.
the old castle
The castle belonged to the Knights of St John from the 12th and 13th centuries and is associated with their trip to the Crusades. For 3 euro you can wander through the castle to get a pretty good idea of the way they used to live.
entering the castle
an interesting window
a fabulous old door
a room in the castle
let's joust
in the castle
the windmills from the castle
what a fabulous setting for a tale
looking out over La Mancha
On the way back to the highway we passed a farmhouse that looked too cute not to photograph.
a spanish farm with very low grape vines
like white doll's houses
stuffed overalls
The stuffed overalls hanging from the tree were obviously an attempt to keep birds away. It wasn’t working, they were tweeting madly all around.
I learned the story of Don Quixote at primary school and loved the tale of the man in this far away magical land. Who knew that one day I would visit? Of course, we called him Don Quicksote, we didn’t know any better then.
If you happen to be about an hour south of Toledo, call by and see if you can see the ghost of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, with his faithful companion Sancho by his side.