I confess: I have not read "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha," the literary masterpiece by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra It was number one on the list of my high-school mandatory books but that year I left for the United States While my friends read about the adventures of the "Knight of the Sad Countenance," I struggled through the epic poem Beowulf Cervantes did not give away the name of the birthplace of Don Quixote a middle-aged gentleman who becomes obsessed with chivalrous ideals and takes up his lance and sword to venture along Spain's roads to perform heroic deeds in the name of his beloved Dulcinea a weather-beaten village of almost 7,000 people This year marks 400 years since the death of Cervantes a perfect excuse for a road trip in the footsteps of Don Quixote and his loyal squire Sancho Panza across the high plains of today's La Mancha The forecast says it will rain all day everywhere in Spain My idea is to capture the mood and energy of the region that he had described in so much detail So in true Quixote spirit I think of the weather as an opportunity The rain will force me to picture things in a different light "The two most international things about La Mancha are Don Quijote and our cheese," Angel Gutierrez Carrasco says while tending his flock by the Penarroya dam near the quiet town of Argamasilla de Alba Carrasco has not read Cervantes but he is well aware of the episode when Don Quixote charges at two herds of sheep after taking them for armies Every year he lends animals to a theatre group to reenact parts of the novel on the streets of Argamasilla Cervantes didn’t give away the name of Don Quixote’s birthplace but some people identify it as Argamasilla Other locations in La Mancha fight for that distinction but Argamasilla showcases a rebuilt house with a cave underneath where In the prologue to "El Quijote," Cervantes wrote that his work had been "engendered in a jail" These days visitors can see the Cave of Medrano and imagine that Cervantes wrote part of his masterpiece there is adamant about where Cervantes himself was born no matter what people from Alcala de Henares say," Montesinos says in open disagreement with scholars who widely accept that Cervantes was a native of the latter Montesinos is the only person I met during my five days in la Mancha who had read "El Quijote" from beginning to end His astronomer son is partly responsible for getting a star named after Cervantes and four planets in its orbit named after Don Quixote Cervantes and Don Quixote have finally gone cosmic The clouds obscure any sign of stars when I meet Italian travellers Irene Decarli sharing dinner inside their camper by the bleached-white windmills of Consuegra We strike up a conversation in English as I mistake them for northern Europeans we go on to talk about La Mancha and Don Quixote in our mother tongues I ask them the reason behind Don Quixote's universal appeal and after some mimicking I make out that people relate to him because he is a free spirit Left: Sister Isabel poses with a box of sweets "Caprichos de Dulcinea" (Dulcinea cravings) made at her convent Right: A man walks past a statue of Dulcinea I search for Don Quixote's great love Dulcinea in the village of El Toboso There is only one woman named after the Princess of La Mancha there but she now works in London and is tired of journalists misquoting her a cloistered nun of the Order of Saint Clare makes sweets named after Dulcinea and invites me to her convent's bakery She and other nuns have been making the best-selling "Caprichos de Dulcinea" (Dulcinea's cravings) since 2005 the fourth centenary of the publication of the first part of "El Quijote" As I drive towards the town of Ossa de Montiel on my last day in La Mancha I take stock of all the interesting people and places I've come across Nothing can prepare me for what I find inside the Cave of Montesinos While descending into the cave where some claim Don Quixote fell asleep to have the most fantastic of dreams signals with his flashlight to what looks like powder on the ground the grey dust lit in the cave’s darkness are the ashes of "Bob was an Englishman who came to live in Ossa de Montiel out of love for his Spanish wife He started impersonating Don Quixote outside the cave and along the lagoons and gathered a following of locals and tourists he died in a car accident in January and his family decided to scatter his ashes in the places he was so passionate about After five days of seeking out Don Quixote in every corner of La Mancha I find him in a bat cave - and he turns out to be English Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news You are receiving this pop-up because this is the first time you are visiting our site You are using software which is blocking our advertisements (adblocker) we are relying on revenues from our banners So please disable your adblocker and reload the page to continue using this site.Thanks firm flesh and good post-harvest shelf life are the main traits of Rockero F1* Nunhems' new Piel de Sapo melon variety for the mid and semi-late cycle in La Mancha (harvests from August to the second half of September) The multinational company showcased it in some field days held on August 25 and 26 in the Argamasilla de Alba area "The variety is very well suited to the growing conditions of La Mancha" pointing to two fundamental aspects: on the one hand to the point that "it does not crack"; and on the other which allows it to adapt to areas with exhausted soils it is a variety that is easy for the grower to handle." Rockero F1 is a traditional Piel de Sapo melon which stands out for its good post-harvest life without sacrificing the flavor demanded by consumers; something it achieves thanks to the firmness of its flesh "It has a different kind of bite," says Naranjo but with a very intense flavor and a high sugar level," up to 17º Brix BASF once again meets the expectations of the entire agro-food value chain and does so with a variety that has achieved the perfect balance between agronomic and organoleptic qualities * APC granted and in the process of application for inclusion in the EC Common Catalogue of Vegetable Varieties FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 FreshPlaza.com The La Mancha region is dotted with whitewashed windmills like those Don Quixote fights in Miguel de Cervantes' book Miguel de Cervantes did not reveal the birthplace of the eponymous middle-aged gentleman obsessed with heroically righting the world's wrongs and bringing back lost chivalry It's in the arid central Spanish region of La Mancha "The two most well-known things about La Mancha are Don Quixote and our [manchego] cheese," says Angel Gutierrez tending to his sheep not far from the quiet town his loyal squire Sancho Panza and his beautiful lady abound in nearby villages — from sweet treats to theatre productions involving livestock Gutierrez lends his animals to a theatre group to re-enact on the streets the part of the novel when Don Quixote charges at two flocks of sheep after taking them for armies The region is dotted with whitewashed windmills The scene gave rise to the expression "tilting at windmills" or fighting imaginary enemies just as "quixotic" now means idealistic and impractical the windmills do indeed seem to float like giants in the distance Other locations in La Mancha also claim to be Don Quixote's birthplace but residents of Argamasilla de Alba claim Cervantes was imprisoned in their town Cervantes wrote that his work had been "engendered in a jail" a common farmhand he imagines as a refined and beautiful damsel supposedly lived in the village of El Toboso makes sweets named after Dulcinea at her convent's bakery The nuns have been making "Caprichos de Dulcinea" (Dulcinea's Fancies) since 2005 the fourth centenary of the publication of the first part of Don Quixote grey powder lies on the ground in Montesinos Cave near the Ruidera lagoons where Cervantes is believed to have based a scene in which Don Quixote falls asleep and dreams who came here to live with his Spanish wife and started to impersonate the fictional knight After he died in a car accident in January his family decided to scatter his ashes in the places he was so passionate about For more information on the adventures of Don Quixote in Spain, see spain.info The Marlborough Boutique Hotel offers luxury stays and a hatted restaurant Alessandro Petacchi would generally be the number one bet as the winner in a bunch sprint Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)(Image credit: AFP)Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)(Image credit: AFP)Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)(Image credit: Unipublic)An interview with Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi would generally be the number one bet as the winner in a bunch sprint with the Italian already prevailing three times in the Vuelta a Espana His 'harvest' of wins seems to come from an everlasting pot of honey bringing his career stage wins at the Vuelta to 15...and counting Cyclingnews' Hernan Alvarez Macias caught up with the Italian super sprinter after his third triumph in the Vuelta in Lloret de Mar Petacchi is just 22 days shy of possibly his biggest challenge of the year; the elite road race at the World Championships in Madrid as well as Milan-San Remo earlier this year it’s the only title missing in his collection he'll equal Mario Cipollini’s sensational 2002 season when Super Mario won both Milan-San Remo and the World title but we spent the whole day going up and down CN: Is it a goal for you to win three times at the Vuelta The first win was the one I liked it most because I didn’t actually know in which condition I was I had fallen off the bike recently and broken one finger CN: The heat was an important factor during the Vuelta’s first week Do you like the heat or do you prefer cold weather AP: I don’t like extreme heat or cold We had three hard stages with heat and a dry weather Today was a little easier in terms of heat than other days CN: You said you don’t want to talk about the Worlds any more But you can't really overlook it; how are you feeling in the leadup to the race We still have less than a month to prepare ourselves but I think I have time to train I hope I keep the good condition going all the way to the actual race and of course it’s not absolutely flat I think that with two or three teammates of mine we are able to make it a bunch sprint finale CN: For how long will you stay racing at the Vuelta that’s for sure; it’s possible that I could race a bit more It’s also possible that I stop ten days before the beginning of the Worlds CN: Do you know the Italian team for Madrid The national coach [Franco Ballerini] will give the official list on September 15 Of course I know some of my teammates already - I know some of them I think we can put together a good team so we can work with riders who specialise in bunch sprints CN: Many people compare you to Mario Cipollini AP: I think we sprint in very similar ways Maybe I'm stronger on climbing stages where he couldn’t reach the front CN: How do you see your team Fassa Bortolo at the Vuelta The day in Cuenca I would have liked to have been in the bunch sprint considering it was a tough stage with climbs The Cuenca stage was very hard; I was up the front but [Juan Antonio] Flecha fell off his bike but then I stayed with Flecha after his fall I told him that the most important thing was that he was alright Other Talking Cycling Interviews Housing prices in general continue to soar in the islands both new and second-hand housing prices continue to soar. In the latest report of the real estate portal Fotocasa the indicators continue to rise and skyrocket that a municipality of Ibiza sets the historical record for the price of second hand in Spain and up to four municipalities of the island are in the top ten of the country That municipality is Santa Eulàriawhere to buy a used home at the moment you have to pay an average of 8,411 euros per square meter a figure that leaves far behind the rest of the municipalities of the islands and Spain In December 2024 five cities exceed 6,000 euros per square meterwhile in 2022 none had done so Santa Eulària des Riu is the most expensive municipality with 8,411 euros/m² followed by Ibiza city with 6,986 euros/m² Donostia – San Sebastián with 6,696 euros/m² Sant Josep de sa Talaia with 5,953 euros/m² Sant Antoni de Portmany with 5,837 euros/m² Sant Just Desvern with 5,740 euros/m² and La Moraleja with 5,600 euros/m² up to four Ibizan municipalities are in the ‘top ten’ of the most expensive housing in Spain rubbing shoulders and surpassing historical names in this ranking such as Donostia Sant Just Desvern and the exclusive Madrid enclave of La Moraleja artists from the world of show business and football aces the most outstanding inter-annual increase takes place in the Mallorcan Felanitx with 45.6% Bembibre (León) is the cheapest municipality to buy a second-hand home Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo with 694 euros/m² and Calasparra with 698 euros/m² in some towns you can buy a house for what in Santa Eulària you pay for the living room or the terrace the price of second-hand housing in Spain closes 2024 with an annual increase of 8.4% and places the December price at 2,389 €/m2 according to data from the report by ‘ Second-hand housing in 2024′ based on the Fotocasa Real Estate Index the annual increase of this 2024 (8.4%) is the highest recorded in the Fotocasa Real Estate Index in its 19 years of analysis Comunitat Valenciana is the region with the highest increase (19.8%) Castilla-La Mancha (2.7%) and Catalonia (2.3%) which has exceeded 4,000 euros/m² since April 2024 is at the top of the ranking of the most expensive with 4,597 euros/m² which with an average price in December of 4,278 euros/sqm has surpassed the 4,000 euros/sqm barrier in March It is followed by the Basque Country with 3,284 euros/m² and Catalonia with 2,824 euros/m² “The price of housing for sale is consolidating an upward trend marked by historic rises reflecting a context of high tension between limited supply and growing demand such as the population attraction capacity and the tourist attraction in regions such as the Balearic Islands Canary Islands and Madrid have caused them to reach record highs this year which is evidence of a warming of the market despite the fact that national prices are still below the levels of the 2007 bubble The fall in interest rates has acted as an additional driver for demand facilitating access to more affordable mortgages but requires measures to promote a balance between supply and demand to ensure its sustainability in the medium and long term.” comments María Matos Director of Research and spokesperson of Fotocasa For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.