From
Madridejo, we went west to the town of Consuegra, which, like most other
Manchegan towns, hosted a giant cathedral at its center. I walked around
a bit in the back alleys before we headed up a hill, past a castle used
in the Moorish-Christian wars and to the top, where 11 five hundred year
old windmills stood in a line overlooking Consuegra.
We
walked underneath the mills, looking out over miles of cork oaks and olive
groves. Cervantes traveled through Consuegra around the time the capital
of Spain was in transition from Toledo to Madrid, and wrote about it through
the adventures of Don Quixote. His adventures not only defined the first
modern novel, but established a kind of archetype for the obliviously
romantic and confused traveler. It is said that Cervantes chose La Mancha
for the backdrop of his novel because its 'backwoods-hickishness' would
be endearing to the literate elite of Madrid.
La Mancha farms
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