I was born in Valdepeñas, Castilla-La Mancha. I haven´t always
valued La Mancha as many other Spaniards, and it took me time, maturity and
distance to see things from a different perspective.
La Mancha is being undervalued and forgotten and many think of it as
a dry area in the middle of Spain, with no turism or atractiveness whatsoever. And
the fact is that we have numerous things that should make us think about the
genuine and special place La Mancha really is.
The grass is not always greener on the
other side of the fence and if we look at La Mancha with an open heart, we
won’t miss the unfolding beauty of these dry lands.
These are just some examples of what La Mancha has to offer:
1.
The best
cinema
Pedro Almodóvar
was born in Calzada de Calatrava, only 45km from my hometown. The last
production, Glory and pain is
being a total success. The strong underlying social compromise and criticism of
Spanish church are characteristic of Almodovar’s movies, and a a legacy that
should not be ignored. Almodovar fights bigotry with an imppecable style and an
unique hallmark.
2.
A land of windmills
Don Quijote could be have born in Valdepeñas,
in Infantes, or in Calzada… We will never know. What we know is that, in our
hearts, this crazy, romantic and funny knight is always fighting against
windmills.
”In a village of La Mancha, the name
of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of
those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean
hack, and a greyhound for coursing”
Cervantes created the first model
novel. Don Quijote is also the second most translated book after the Bible and
one of the most important classics books of all times. Cervantes took us, through madness and
sanity, on a journey about life, values and humanity and La Mancha, with its
windmills, is the heart of the imaginery and the fantasies of this
unforgettable knight.
3.
Valdepeñas and its wine
Valdepeñas is being exporting wine through history to far
away lands. In the middle ages, Valdepeñas’wine exported to even China, where
it was well apreciated. Today, Valdepeñas wine is renowned worldwide and you
can get it in numerous places, even from Alko!
4.
Tapas
Imagine you go to
a bar and order a beer that cost you one or one euro fifty and, in addition,
you get completely for free something nice to eat, like manchego cheese with
some bread… Yummy!
5.
History and culture
Cities
full of history and art, like Toledo or Cuenca. Toledo is the city of three
cultures (arabic, christian and jewish) and there you can contemplate ancient
mosques, sinagogues, ruins from Roman times or churches.
Moreover,
La Mancha has hundred of castles from the Middle age, if you are an enthusiast
of castles!
Small towns
like Almagro, where every year takes place the theater festival in Spain, due
to the fact that Almagro preserves the
last classic teather from the 17th century in the world.
6.
Nature
La Mancha is very
diverse and rich in lanscapes. Evidence of this are Ruidera lakes in Ciudad
Real, the waterfalls of Río Mundo (Albacete) or the mezmeraring rocks of Ciudad
Encantada (Cuenca).
La Mancha is very
flat and sometimes you can see the horizon many kilometres away, the blue sky
and the immense fields, never going to an end, just towards the infinite…
