some of the mills still have the inner wheels
you buy your tickets at the Cardeno Mill
the first part of the road goes steep up mountain. And it is hotter than we anticipated.
a view over Consuegra
watch out for those spikes
inside the castle
Wind wheels are known since ancient times, technological superior
tower mills with large sails appeared in western Europe
in the 11th century and were used till the steam engine took over.
The windy plains of La Mancha were a perfect
habitat to harvest wind energy and transform it in mechanical energy to mill grain. Hundreds of windmills were build and once
dominated the landscape.
The whitewashed windmills were made famous by
Servantes when he let
Don Quixote take on these
giants.
Some of La Mancha's windmills have been restored and the most popular place to see them is
Consuegra, where
12 of these mills line up on Calderico Hill.
Each one has a name, inspired by the Don Quixote novel.
Also on this hill
are the remains of El Castillo de Consuegra which has Moorish origens but later served the
Hospital Knights.
We climbed Calderico
Hill on a hot and sunny day in May 2016.
Calderico Hill with the windmills and Castillo can be seen from afar
at the foot of Calderico Hill we find this special windmill
in the distance there are more windmills but these are from the 21st century
El Castillo de Consuegra