Castile-La Mancha - autonomous community of Spain
Castile-La Mancha or Castilla La Mancha is a region of central Spain where the fictional Don Quixote fought imaginary windmills. Those windmills can still be seen today. The climate of the region is arid, and the dialect of Spanish is very similar to the Spanish spoken in Madrid.
Cities
- Albacete — it has a reputation as producer of clasp knives
- Almansa — famous for its Moros y cristianos festival in May, and its Moorish castle
- Ciudad Real — home of the Don Quixote Museum
- Cuenca — an outstanding example of a medieval city, built on the steep sides of a mountain, famous for its "hanging houses"
- Guadalajara — known for the Palacio del Infantado, built in the medieval period for the powerful Mendoza Family
- Toledo — a UNESCO heritage site on the Tagus River near Madrid, known for its swords
Other destinations
- Campillo de Ranas 📍 – a village some 66 km north of Guadalajara, notable for its gay Socialist mayor who pushed back on rural decline of villages like this by promoting it as a destination for non-religious weddings for both same-sex and mixed-sex couples.
Understand
Get in
Albacete airport is the only airport with commercial flights.
Get around
See
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- The town of Almadén has long traditions of mercury mining and has been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List as Heritage of Mercury Almadén and Idrija.
- Old town of Toledo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- The old town of Cuenca and its old quarters, which have grown over centuries, have changed little. Many of their buildings are still used as they were before. There are monasteries that are still alive, churches, mansions and the town hall with its arcades. Also belongs to the world cultural heritage.
- The castle of Sigüenza
- The castle of Molina de Aragon
- The castle and city walls in Palazuelos
- The Guadalajara Cathedral
- The cave in La Riba de Saelices
Do
Eat
The queso Manchego, the famous cheese of La Mancha, is made here from sheep's milk.
Other traditional Castilian La Mancha specialties are Manchego and Valdepeñas wine, pisto, roast suckling lamb, Toledo marzipan, drunken sponge cakes, and Manchego gazpacho.
Drink
Stay safe
As with much of Spain's inland regions, you can feel perfectly safe anywhere in the region if you know where you are going and what you are doing. Some more touristy areas such as Toledo do have their share of pickpocketing, so watch out for your belongings.
The region's inhabitants have a somewhat bizarre reputation for being dour and 'rough around the edges', but saying a few words in Spanish can help ease relations.