Castilla La Mancha Tourism
Getting There
At present the only international airport that serves Castilla – La Mancha is
Madrid but as this is less than an hour’s drive from the capital city of the
region, Toledo, it is a convenient way for visitors to arrive.
There is a new airport currently under construction at Ciudad Real – to be
known both as Madrid South and Don Quijote – which will be the first Spanish
airport directly served by the AVE train system, taking passengers to Madrid in
45 minutes and Seville in under two hours. Already the AVE to Seville has
resulted in new stations being constructed at Ciudad Real and Puertollano and
the rail links cutting across the region make this kind of transport very
accessible.
The road system throughout the region contains the main roads from Madrid to
Zaragozza, Valencia, Andalucía and Badajoz as well as the road to Toledo itself.
Top Destinations in Castilla La Mancha
If ever a city had the atmosphere of a living museum, it has to be Toledo.
Situated on a hill and more or less surrounded by the river Tajo and the old
walls, the old town is totally untouched by modern development, making it
crammed with monuments of every age in Spanish history. There are
Moorish-Modejar-Jewish buildings – including an incredible Sinagoga del Tránsito
which is as symbolically complex as the Mezquita in Córdoba. There is a fine
Gothic cathedral and many Renaissance buildings of great merit. The city’s
dominant building, though, is the Alcázar, a fortress since Roman times. This
was also the site of a terrible siege during the Civil War – you can still see
bullet holes and shell damage – but has been rebuilt since. Most harrowing of
all for many visitors is the room in which the besieged Francoist leader,
Moscardó, refused to surrender even though he was told his son was to be killed
if he did not do so. The words telling the boy to ‘prepare to die’ say much
about the futility of the war but also about the courage of so many of the
people involved in it.
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Toledo was also the Spanish home town of El Greco and many of his paintings are
here, including one of his acknowledged masterpieces, The Burial of the Count of
Orgaz’ in the Church of Santo Tome. British visitors to Toledo can often be seen
gasping in disbelief at the array of swords and knives on open sale in many of
the old shops in the centre – Toledo has long been famous for the quality of its
swords; those used in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films were mostly made here.
Travelling on a bus sitting near a teenager carrying a four foot long sword is a
most disconcerting experience for most Britons!
Perhaps the best views of the city as a whole can be obtained by going over one
of the bridges across the Tajo and driving or walking up the hills opposite,
where there are many former estates of the Toledo aristocracy which have now
been converted into hotels – the Parador is up here. The views of the city,
especially at dawn and sunset, are totally breathtaking.
Guadalajara has some fine Moorish walls and a surviving bridge across the river
Henares, a Mudejar style church and a fifteenth century palace but Cuenca has
become perhaps the second most visited town in Castilla – La Mancha. Cuenca has
a well-preserved, picturesque centre, with an imposing Gothic cathedral, but is
most famous for its incredible ‘hanging houses’, clinging precariously to cliffs
200m above the junction of two river canyons. Cuenca, unlike much of the region,
is close to lush, green forests and impressive mountain peaks but now also
attracts many visitors who have read about the city in the final chapters of CJ
Sansom’s recent best seller, ‘Winter in Madrid’.
Don Quijote aficionados can still find the ‘giants’ he went into battle against
by visiting the windmills at Conseguera and also visit Dulcinea’s house at
Toboso. Cervantes’ own home is well-preserved in the village of Esquivias.
Local Tourist Activities
Although most of the visitors to this area concentrate on Toledo and, to a
lesser degree, Cuenta, there is a developing range of other activities now to
attract the traveller. At different places in Castilla – la Mancha, you can
participate in cycling, horse riding, climbing, orienteering, hiking and hill
walking, bungee jumping, hang gliding, ballooning, parachuting, gliding,
canoeing, rafting, fishing and golf.
As well as Don Quijote tours, there are also guided routes of the many vineyards
in the region, especially around Valdepeñas.
Local Festivals in Castilla La Mancha
The two festivals in the region that have major national and international
interest each year are the Corpus Christi celebrations in Toledo and Holy Week
in Cuenca.
Other festivals that especially interesting, though include the Moors and
Christians at Valverde del Júcar and Caudete; the Festival of Medieval theatre
in Hita; the Saffron Rose Festival every October in Consuegra; the January Cow
Festival of San Pablo de los Montes; the Festival of the Olive held in Mora each
April; and the colourful devil-themed festival La Endiablada each February in
Almonacid de Marquesado.
Food and Drink of La Mancha
Manchego cheese, generally considered to be the finest in Spain, is produced
here from ewe’s milk. Popular regional dishes include Asadillo manchego, which
is a salad of tomatoes, roasted peppers, garlic and olive oil and Pisto manchego
conhuevos, a mix of peppers, tomatoes, onions, courgettes, ham and a fried egg.
Lamb is very popular, along with partridge but be aware that if you see Gazpacho
Manchego on a menu it will not be a cold tomato soup. Instead expect to get a
stew of chicken, rabbit and perhaps hare or pigeon served on a piece of flat
bread.
Toledo is famous for its marzipan – there’s even a shop that has a model of the
town sculpted in marzipan in the window.
Wine has always been a thriving industry here with the best-known Denominaciones
de Origen being La Mancha and Valdepeñas but this decade has seen a drive to
modernize the industry as well as highlight the region’s best crianzas and
reservas.
See Also:
Castilla La Mancha |
