From our Spanish ‘base’ of Alzira (about 45 mins south of Valencia) we have had the fortune to explore a lot of the Valencia region over the past year and have seen a great many local sites (check out those blogs). Now we are getting to the point where we need to push a bit further afield to explore the wider Spanish countryside.

The challenge with exploring the whole of Spain is that this country is huge…the second largest country in the European Union and 12 times the size of our home country of the Netherlands, so it takes more than a quick day trip to see much of what Spain has to offer.

On a sunny summer’s day in August we decided to hop in the car to do a long day trip around the eastern half of Castile La Mancha and follow in the footsteps of Don Quixote as modern day knights of the road.

Crossing from Valencia region into Castile La Mancha will give you an idea of the vastness of this country, where several hours of driving will show you red and orange plains that stretch on for as far as the eye can see, punctuated by modern day windmills in the far far distance.

All this aerogeneration set up up perfectly for our first few stops to see the classic windmills of Campo de Criptana and Mota del Cuervo, just as Cervantes described in his book 400 years ago, standing over the local villages on hilltops to be seen from miles around (although today’s windmills are a bit younger from the 19th Century).

You would have thought that living in the Netherlands we’d be tired of windmills…but they all come in different shapes and sizes and these are the icons of Spain that have to be seen.

Campo’s windmills are a bit more raw and natural in their look, settled right at the top of the village , whereas in Mota they look a bit more polished with their red tops.

Also at the top of the village in Campo de Criptana you’ll find pretty cobble stoned alleys and one or two cave house that are centuries old.

You can even have a nice lunch in one of the caves at Cueva La Martina, unashamedly touristic and a little bit pricey but the octopus with potatoes and black salt had Lyssa closing her eyes in delight at the taste!

Heading north our next stop was at Belmonte to see its perfectly renovated 15th century castle – this is exactly how castles should look, with plenty of towers and crenelated walls all massively foreboding above the sleepy village below.

For us it was just a quick drive by to marvel at the sight and then continue on with our journey to Cuenca.

The drive to Cuenca is about 150km, and almost the whole route is lined with fields of sunflowers…it makes for a mesmerising sight, so you have to concentrate to ensure you don’t veer off the road and into all that Yellow.

Even sunflowers seem to have their limits on how much sun they get and it seemed as though all the flowers were bowing their heads to escape from the 35 degree heat of the day (luckily it was a balmy 20 degrees in our car with the aircon on!).

Cuenca is a big, beautiful surprise!  We had never really heard abut it before, but in seeing where we could visit for a day from Alzira Matt was attracted by the description of the 15th century ‘hanging houses’ and so it became our destination.

Jucar River Gorge

Like many modern places, reaching the outskirts of the city you see all the industry and apartment blocks and wonder what could be nice about such a place, but heading further into the centre and up into the old town that sits prettily on the hill we found one of the most beautiful places in Spain that we have had the chance to visit.

Iglesia San Pedro

Of course, Spain has plenty of stunning places – Barcelona, Grenanda, Cordoba, Sevilla, these are the world renowned superstars that attract millions per year, little Cuenca (a Unesco World Heritage site), however transports you to something more like a medieval Italian hill town with steep, cobbled streets, centuries old buildings, grand ornate churches and rocky gorges hemming in the town.

We only had a few hours to visit but we immediately fell in love with this town and it is on our list to come back and spend a night or two when we do our grand tour of Spain.

Huecar River Gorge

Starting at the top by the castle ruins, from here you will get the amazing gorge views of the Jucar and Huecar rivers that slice away at both sides of the town. Descending via the side of the Huecar river gorge you’ll get your first glimpses of those hanging houses that attracted Matt to here in the first place –

Hanging Houses

built all the way back in the 15th century Las Casas Colgadas used to be quite a common construction here, but now only a few remain, but at over 500 years old they are doing pretty well.

Bridge of St Paul

Across the gorge is the dominating old convent of St Paul that is now a Parador where you can spend what looks like a wonderful night (this is definitely on our list when we come back).  A quick run across St Paul’s bridge, rebuilt in 1902 and you certainly feel its age as the floor boards wobble as you make your way across…just try not to linger if there are too many groups taking selfies in the middle!

Old Convent of St Paul

Back into the heart of the town and its lovely little square, where you can quench your thirst from all that walking at the square fountain (or just pick up a fresh beer from one of the many cafes; here you can enjoy it with the view of the beautiful Cuenca Cathedral and its imposing facade.

So that’s our day trip all done, short and sweet, but with plenty of ideas for our next (hopefully longer) trip to this part of Spain. If you do get the chance then make a beeline here and above all, enjoy!