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Hill of the Mills (also known as Sierra de los Molinos) in Campo de Criptana. In 1575, the Topographical Reports of Philip II already mentioned “many mills” in the area; in 1752, the Cadastre of the Marquis of Ensenada recorded 34 mills in Campo de Criptana. Currently, 10 mills are preserved, three of them (Infante, Burleta, and Sardinero) dating from the 16th century with their original machinery. The complex has been declared a Site of Cultural Interest and designated a “Historic Site.”

Return to the town of Campo de Criptana

The municipality is in the region of La Mancha, bordering Cuenca and Toledo, and is known for the Pedro Muñoz-Mota del Cuervo lagoon complex. The old houses made of masonry and mud bricks stand out, such as the Casa de La Paca. Church of San Pedro: Built between the 17th and 18th centuries, with a Latin cross plan and a barrel vault.

The Sierra de los Molinos is the place where the famous windmills are built. It is the top of a hill where the open space ensures the wind that would move its blades in its time. Of the more than thirty windmills that once existed, ten of them are preserved, called: Sardinero located on the Cerro de la Paz and Burleta, Infanto, Cariari, Culebro, Inca Garcilaso, Lagarto, Pilón, Poyatos and Quimera located in the Sierra de los Molinos. Their existence inspired Cervantes to narrate "The Battle of Don Quixote against the Giants", in chapter VIII of "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", where Don Quixote mistook the windmills for giants against whom to fight.

Views in the distance of the ruins of the Hermitage of Santa Ana, of whose past unfortunately only a few remains remain.

Public fountain on the road very close to the sanctuary of Nuestra Sra de Criptana

Unfortunately, nowadays they are often only monuments to a long tradition of craftsmanship: the heavy millstones were moved using the power of the wind alone to grind grains into flour (grain mills) or press oil from olives (oil mills). Sometimes - although rarely - the windmills also had the function of a pumping station and transported water to a higher level. But Miguel de CERVANTES (1547 to 1616) also created a literary monument to the technical monument of the mills: the most famous figure of the author, who is considered Spain's national poet and whose work can certainly be valued as world literature: "Don QUIXOTE", also known as the "Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance" and always accompanied by his loyal squire Sancho Panza, fights a - of course hopeless - battle against windmills in one of the fictional stories, in which he believes he recognizes four-armed giants.

This mountain where the Mota del Cuervo mills are located is known by the name "Balcón de La Mancha", as it has fabulous views wherever you look.