We made Consuegra in good time, as James had stuck to motorways, and we found a cafeteria near the bus station that was open and served hot chocolate and churros. We then noticed, too late, that the locals were getting their churros from a hole in the wall churro shop. Ours weren't bad so we made do.
Up the hill, ignoring James's instruction to go the wrong way up one way streets. There were the windmills. Like Quixote we were deluded. Our delusion was about the temperature. It was freezing. We were in La Mancha but it was not hot and bright, it was cold and dim. Still, the windmills looked awesome. We did get out of the car and walk among them, we also got up into the castle, which was built for the knights of St John, a crusading order that got kicked out of Jerusalem and decided to fight Muslims in Spain instead. They built the castle on a rocky ridge in La Mancha, on the front with the moors. We also manage to get inside one of the windmills. The big poles, opposite the blades, are to move the whole top of the structure to face the wind. Quite fascinating.
Did I mention it was cold? Marjan had four layers on and was freezing, I had packed most of my cold weather gear in the suitcase, so resorted to a scarf to help keep the cold out. The rain did not help and a few photos, like that last one of Marjan, have rain drop smears on them. Brains frozen from the cold we decided we better get moving, or die from exposure. James decided than rather than heading west he would take us back the way we came and then take the main Portugal road. We were too cold to argue.
More beautiful countryside and a couple of stops along the way, one for lunch, one so I stayed awake, before we saw Trujillo in the distance. Trujillo is the birthplace of Pizarro. Look him up, he was an 'interesting' man. Peruvians may have a different perspective than Extrameños. Anyway just another Spanish town with a castle on the top of a hill. We did the obligatory drive up a single lane, cobble stoned goat track to get to our lodgings, found a ridiculous car park, and phoned Miguel to let us in. He was, as usual, really friendly and helpful.
It was de decidedly warmer, not warm, just not freezing. We walked to the Plaza Mayor. No, not all towns have one, they can get special permission from the king to not have one. We thought, 'wow!'. This was different from anything else we had seen. Not that the other places were bad, or unauthentic. It is just that Trujillo had the feel of a place that is what it is because that is the way it has always been. Less touristy, more down home gritty Spanish. We loved it.
Then the lady at the information office, whose local accent involves the absence of all esses, and who regardless of my Australian accent, thought I had a Spanish face, told us to go to the old part of town. What ? This isn't the old part of town? So off we went and wandered around the castle. It started as a Muslim stronghold around the 9th century. But some time in the11th the Christians had a famous Victory, aided by Our Lady of Victory. Now they have a chapel, and if you pay €0.50 Our Lady of Victory will turn on her pedestal and face you for luck. We were unprepared for that sort of luck so passed on that and just kept walking around a lovely old town.
A rest back out the digs and a return to the Plaza Mayor for dinner, reminded us that this was not tourist central. They don't do dinner before 8:30. Oh, OK if you insist we'll cook something, but only at about 8:20. We are loving the wines. Even the ones in the Menu of the Day offerings have been good. We keep trying local wines, both red and white, and universally they have been good.
After about 5 hours of driving in the rain, we are quite tired, so we may have a slack day tomorrow, and leave the national park till Tuesday.
Bye blog followers.
PS . Apparently Anna is fine in her digs. She says the landlady does not speak English, so Anna may just be considered a mad stray taken in out of the Madrid streets. Anna can't tell one way or the other, she just knows she has a bed tonight.
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