Spain – Castilla-La Mancha – Farm – Calzada de Calatrava – Almagro – Calatrava Castle (En)

The farm of my friend Carmen is beautiful, with the way bordered by blooming almond trees with amazing views since you can see both the Castle of Calatrava and Salvatierra. We met her four dogs, her pig pet, the birds, rabbits, turkeys, and geese and her cows with their babies. We visited the farm in a 4×4 that Carmen calls the Gator with Asha and Sol (one of Carmen’s dogs), where we met some cows who decided to follow us all the way.

The farm is next to the town of Calzada de Calatrava, the film director’s hometown Pedro Almodóvar, which was inspired by his homeland when writing a good number of his fictional stories. Here he filmed a good part of one of his masterpieces “Volver”, portraying the essence of his land, its people and traditions. Things to see in the town are its square with its town hall, the Manchego cheese factories, its church and the silo converted into a cultural centre with drawings from Almodovar’s films.

From there we went to visit Almagro, one of the most beautiful towns in Ciudad Real. In 1972 its old town was declared a historic-artistic site. First, we had lunch in a restaurant, with a menu of only 10 euros. Ben tried a typical dish called “Duels and Losses” as a starter, consisting of pork meat, and chorizo with scrambled eggs, I had a red pepper salad with tomato and for the second course, we had Iberian secret.

There are plenty of places to visit in Almagro, such as its Mayor Square, which is a rectangular square of medieval origin, although its charm comes from the renovation it underwent in the 16th century, the glazed galleries with their greenish red ocher wood beams date from this period. At one end of the square is the town hall and at the other the equestrian statue of Diego de Almagro. In the square is also the Corral de las Comedias, an old theatre that is still in use today, maintaining the initial structure that is over 400 years old. We tried to take a photo but they caught us! You have to pay to enter.

Then we saw the Church of St Agustin from the 18th century, being one of the most significant examples of the fullness of the Baroque in Ciudad Real, the Palace of Valdeparaiso now converted into a Gastronomic Modernization Centre and the beautiful Parador hotel with bar and restaurants inside and numerous terraces.

When we were going back to the farm we stopped to visit the Castle of Calatrava la Nueva located on the Alacranejo hill in front of the Salvatierra Castle. It is one of the most impressive military ensembles from the Middle Ages in Spain. The enclosure was the headquarters of the Order of Calatrava until 1802 when it moved to Almagro. The monumental complex is made up of three walled enclosures, which house a castle, the church, the convent, the hostelry, and various dependencies destined for the cemetery, the stables, the orchard and the craftsmen’s workshops. All this occupies a perimeter of about 46,000 square meters.

Construction of the enclosure began in 1213, although the church and convent date from a little later. Once finished, the headquarters of the Order moved from Calatrava la Vieja. In the 14th century, little by little, the complex lost its defensive character and control of the territory for which it had been created. For that reason, the Calatravian friars occupied the entire enclosure, maintaining the complex with an exclusively religious function until 1802.

And we finished our visit to the towns of Ciudad Real. Tomorrow we will go to Toledo, the capital of the region and known for its Arab, Jewish and Christian medieval monuments in its old walled city. And you can see this in the next post!