Windmills

Spain is dotted with large, modern windmills generating clean power. But when you think of the country it is often a ragged knight setting his lance and futilely charging a much older windmill on a hill that comes to mind.

No one is certain but it’s said that when Cervantes wrote Don Quixote he was thinking of the 12 windmills at Consuegra. The mills are largely rebuilt but make a brave show standing proud beside an old castle. As they sit on the only hill in a huge plain, you can easily understand why the mills were built in Consuegra. They make for a pretty sight and a pleasant, if windswept, walk.

The area leans heavily into Don Quixote so it took some effort to avoid doing anything that looked like using the t-word in conjunction with a windmill. But if you use your imagination you might think I’m standing in a way which is not perfectly vertical in the direction of a windmills in this photo.

From Consuegra was another two hours drive to Cuenca which is really where we’ve been heading for the last couple of days. Cuenca is an ancient walled city built on a monolithic rock between two rivers. It has an interesting history of Moors, Jews and Christians contributing to its architecture, and a more modern iron bridge that is quite famous.

However getting to the parking for our hotel proved to be unbelievably stressful thanks to our getting tangled in a mosh pit of cars jammed on a one-lane track between a ravine and a rock-face. So we have spent this afternoon having a very leisurely lunch, in the way that Spain does best, and recovering our equilibrium.