Don Quixote de la Mancha, one of the most famous characters of world literature, created by the writer Miguel de Cervantes made through his madness, the windmills are known worldwide or giants, with the eyes of the famous nobleman.
What to see in the Route of the windmills of don Quixote
Discover the route of the windmills of don Quixote:
- Tembleque
- Consuegra
- Campo de Criptana
As the name of the character itself indicates, these windmills are located in the Spanish region known as La Mancha. In this post, I will show you where to find these beautiful constructions, which in the past were used to grind grains, mainly wheat, to make bread.
Today, their blades are blocked without movement, as modern techniques have caused them to stop being used.
Our route started in Madrid and we stopped in the towns with the windmills we wanted to visit according to the proximity. It should be noted that, if you do this route by car, you will have time to see the three sites in one day if you leave early. If you go by public transport, it would be difficult to see it all the same day without spending the night in some accommodation. From Madrid to Tembleque and Campo de Criptana there is a train. From Madrid to Consuegra there is a bus.
The points of the route of the mills that we visited were:
- Tembleque
To begin, we stopped in Tembleque. Although this town only has 2 windmills and half of another that is in ruins, we decided to stop here because it has a beautiful main square, which is where we started our route. Of baroque style of the XVII century, it was the center of activities of the population and, in addition, it was used as a bullring. If you want more information, I leave it in (Visita Plaza Mayor de Tembleque | TCLM (turismocastillalamancha.es) in the references.
It takes just a few minutes to go from the square to the windmills by car, which are located at the end of a road on a hill. This makes for a beautiful view.
- Consuegra
In Consuegra we have a larger number of mills as well as a castle, which we can visit inside. The schedules can be found at Spainheritage Network.
We will be able to visit inside one of the mills, since there is a museum that shows how they used to grind wheat grains.
Mills of Consuegra and Castillo seen from the top.
- Campo de Criptana
The wonderful thing about this village is that the mills are attached within the village itself and the nearby streets are painted with lime, which makes it even more charming.
Visiting the above mentioned places by car we ran out of time, but it is worth noting that there are more villages that have mills in the area, which we will try to see in the future.
For example:
- Alcazar de San Juan: they were on our way just before reaching Campo de Criptana, but we saw them from the road as we prioritized to see the ones in Campo de Criptana as they are attached to the town.
- Mota del Cuervo: already quite far from Campo de Criptana, half an hour away.
But windmills are not exclusive to La Mancha. Also in other areas of Spain we can find these wonderful constructions.
As an example, we also have windmills in the Canary Island of Fuerteventura, the closest island to Africa.
Unlike those we saw in La Mancha, these constructions were not painted with lime in Fuerteventura. When I make the post of Fuerteventura, I will show it to you.
This is all, I hope I have helped you as much as possible for your trip.
If you have any questions or doubts, or if you liked the post, I would love to read you in the comments.
Best regards!