As almost all Spanish people do every summer, my third
and last trip of the summer was a week at the beach with my boyfriend. But
before arriving at the coast of the Mediterranean, we made a detour through
Castilla La Mancha on the route of the windmills.
For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, it is deeply
intertwined with Don Quijote de la Mancha, the famous novel by Miguel de
Cervantes, published in 1405 as the firs modern novel. It follows an errant
campesino who believes himself to be a royal knight, who goes fighting battles
with monsters (windmills) to prove his true love to Dulcinea (who is actually a
village woman of a different name who isn’t aware of his existence). Of course
you know I am going to suggest you read this, but not only because it is a
classic (which it is!) but also because who knew that Cervante’s sense of humor
could still make readers laugh 600 years later? He writes with an irony that is
not lost on present day readers.
Anyways, our first stop on la Ruta de los Molinos was the
town Consuegra, which had not only a row of windmills up on a hill, but also a
castle. You could even enter one of the molinos, which held a gift shop on the
ground floor and a model on the upper floor of how the windmill worked hundreds
of years ago.
Next, we went to Campo de Criptana, another village with
a line of windmills, and after stopping to take a few photos and admire the
view, we continued on to El Toboso, the village of Dulcinea. There, they had a
museum with various old copies of Don Quijote and also a museum where
Dulcinea’s house had supposedly been. The village was completely devoted to El
Quijote, even having metal statues in the main square depicting the characters
and quotes from the book on the walls of the buildings.
Our last stop before heading to the coast was Mota del
Cuervo, which featured yet another line of windmills and another set of metal
statues depicting the characters. Although it might seem a bit of overkill, I
love driving a only few hours and being able to view history in front me. It’s
wonderful to me to see places not only appreciating the history they have but
also trying to attract visitors to their villages and towns.
As with so many of my blog posts, I fear I am going to
end this one also encouraging you all to go read a book. I know, I know, that
Don Quijote might be long (I won’t tell you how long) but it is so worth the
read. It’s one of the only books that I read for my Master’s that actually had
me laughing much of the time.