라구나 드 만자바카스 최고의 MTB 라이딩 경로

엘 토보소(톨레도)에 있는 에르미타 데 산타 아나의 폐허는 16세기 르네상스 사원의 유적입니다. 사람이 살지 않는 언덕에 마을 밖에 위치해 있습니다.

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.

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.

These iconic mills are symbols of Campo de Criptana and all of Castilla-La Mancha. Its blades preside over the life of the town of La Mancha from above. The mills are of the “tower” type, built in masonry and whitewashed with lime. They have a circular plan pierced with small windows, which served as a guide for the orientation of the wind. This indicated where to turn the conical cover so that its blades could take advantage of the wind as desired. Each mill has three floors: the upper one with the grinding stones and the lower ones for storage and packaging. The oldest mills, such as the Sardinero, Burleta and Infante, have been standing since the 16th century and preserve their original mechanism. There are also more modern mills, such as the Inca Garcilaso, the Cariari, the Vicente Huidobro, the Pilón, the Lagarto, the Culebro and the Poyatos, which date back to 1900. Currently, some of these mills can be visited, such as the Molino Infante, the Burleta, the Culebro (which houses the Sara Montiel Museum), the Quimera (which houses the town's Holy Week Museum) and the Poyatos Mill (current tourist information point). The others are closed to the public. I hope you enjoy exploring these iconic windmills! 😊