On our way back to Madrid via an overnight stop in Cuenca, we visited Segóbriga, an archaeological park with Roman-era ruins. The earliest evidence of civilization here dates to the 5th century BCE. Segóbriga came under Roman rule in the 2nd century BCE.
Segóbriga is about 79 km (49 miles) west of Cuenca and 112 km (70 miles) southeast of Madrid.
Segóbriga was an important Roman city, it produced agricultural products, livestock and through mining, ingredients used in the making of translucent plaster. Life was hard here, with 20% of the population dying before the age of 10, and 70% dying by the age of 40. The greater part of the population were freedmen and slaves, many having come to Segóbriga from other conquered regions of the Roman empire, especially Greece. Texts found in Narbonne, France refer to trading partners in Segóbriga, showing its economic influence throughout the broader region.
Most of what remains today are structures from the 1st Century AD, during the time of Augustus. Specific features include a large amphitheater that could hold 5,500; a theater, baths, and a forum in addition to the remnants of some homes. A few images of the sights are shown below.
On the trail leading to the ruins is this 2nd century tombstone monument to Lucunda, a young female slave who died at the age of 16. The relief image is of her playing a zither. She must have been pretty important to someone to warrant such a fine tombstone.
View of the large amphitheater and a corridor leading to the seating areas.Unfortunately much of the original building’s stone was used in the 16th and 17th centuries as construction material for a monastery.View of the theater and nearby forum – the center of cultural life in the city.Views of the baths. The image on the right shows part of the water drainage system.Other views of stones with Latin inscriptions, foundations of small houses or shops, and a well-preserved mosaic floor (all original except for the very center of the mosaic) in one of the grand villas.
At the entrance to the archaeological site is a small and interesting museum with good information on the history of Segóbriga.
In addition to the above, there are remnants of a necropolis, a circus, and other elements of urbanization (other roads, drainage systems, etc.) scattered around this large site.
Necropolis at Segóbriga.
If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by! Due to its somewhat isolated setting, Segóbriga does not receive a lot of visitors, even though it’s not too far from Madrid.
From Córdoba we headed northeast to Consuegra, a small town in the Castile-La Mancha region of Spain. As mentioned in a previous post, we stopped in Calatrava la Nueva on the way. Conseugra was just a quick overnight stop, mainly to see some of Spain’s famous windmills with a castle thrown in for good measure! Most Spanish windmills, like those described in Miguel de Cervantes‘ early 17th century novel Don Quixote, can be found in this arid region of central Spain.
Location of Consuegra is shown on this map – 183 km (86 miles) directly south of Madrid (next to the word “Spain”). This map shows our entire road trip through southern Spain.
Windmills
Consuegra boasts 12 windmills along the top of a ridge overlooking the town and they are a major landmark and tourist draw. I can see why they built windmills in this region – it was windy (and cold ) during our visit – wow – I could barely stand and had to brace myself from getting blown over – no joke. During our visit we were in the midst of a 3 day storm that had started when we were in Córdoba.
Views of Consuegra’s windmills and castle in the distance.Other views of the windmills, each has a name. On the right is a view of the windmills from the castle.
The windmills were used primarily to grind wheat into flour. They were originally built in the 16th century and many were in use until the 1980’s. They have since been restored and a few are open for touring.
Inside one of the windmills – the wooden gear system (left) for turning the power of the wind into a flour mill and the miller’s quarters (right), typically on the first level above ground.
Detail of how the windmill operated.
Castle of Lau Muela
Consuegra’s 12th century castle was once a stronghold of the Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, part of the order’s dominion in the Campo de San Juan region as it was known. The castle can be visited by arranging a tour through the visitor’s center at the windmills. It became a property of the city in the 1960’s and the town has been doing some renovations to the castle.
Exterior views of the castle.Interior rooms of the castle.
Consuegra Town
Consuegra’s Plaza de España and 17th century town hall.
We had an interesting meal during our one afternoon in Conseugra – there weren’t many restaurants open at that time of day. Statue of Don Quixote (left) at the restaurant entrance and my wife and mother-in-law (right) getting ready to enjoy some local ‘ratatouille’ (not exactly how we envisioned ratatouille!).
Although our restaurant experience wasn’t fantastic, we had a lovely 4 bedroom apartment in Consuegra with a view of the ridge above town and a enclosed garage for our car! If you want to see windmills this is the place to come!
Interior view of our apartment and the view from our terrace – castle and windmills on the ridge.
From Córdoba, we headed towards our next stop, Consuegra (La Mancha region) and the land of Don Quixote (with the windmills!). On the way we decided to take a slight detour and visit Calatrava la Nueva, and of course we were rewarded with an amazing experience. I love exploring less-discovered tourist sights and this definitely ranks among them. Calatrava la Nueva is about 184 km (114 miles) or about 2 hours northeast of Córdoba, roughly about half way between Córdoba and Consuegra.
The location of Calatrava la Nueva is shown in the center of the image above.
Calatrava la Nueva is a hilltop medieval castle and convent complex, with a commanding view of an old route connecting La Mancha and Andalusia regions of Spain. The site takes its name from the Order of Calatrava, a Spanish military order that moved to this strategic location in 1217 and served as their headquarters for nearly 600 years. More information on visiting this site can be found here. Evidence of human activity at this site dates back to the Bronze Age. There was a village here at the time of occupation by the Order of Calatrava, but unfortunately most of those structures were destroyed since they did not have defensive or military value at the time.
Below are images taken during our visit. We had the site to ourselves in March. I apologize for the orange hue to the images, this is not a defect in the images, but rather caused by an overcast orange sky due to a big dust storm blowing across the Mediterranean from the Saharan desert at the time of our visit. Millions of fine dust particles suspended in the air reduced the visibility of the surrounding area greatly.
Exterior views of the Castle – an imposing site.
I love this image showing how the natural rock of the steep hill was incorporated into the foundation and walls of the castle – what a lot of work to get the structure’s foundation solid enough to last 800 years!
13th Century Church
A highlight of visiting Calatrava la Nueva is the Church or Convent, which dates from the 13th Century. On the day of our visit, one could feel the nearly 1,000 years of history here.
The 13th Century Convent with its standout rose window over the entrance.Interior views of the Convent at Calatrava la Nueva.
Other Views of Calatrava la Nueva
On a clear day the views from the towers of the Castle would be amazing. Even with our weather conditions we could still see the extensiveness of the castle grounds and service shops required to support a large garrison.
Views from the towers of Calatrava la Nueva.Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate – windy and clouds full of Saharan dust!Additional views within the Castle complex.
Another view of the Castle Courtyard.
If you find yourself on a driving tour of Spain in the vicinity of Córdoba, take the time to visit Calatrava la Nueva! There was a ticket office on site. The road up to the castle is a bit bumpy and steep, but shouldn’t be a problem for most regular passenger vehicles.
This spring we decided to take our first international trip in over two years due to the pandemic. It felt so good to be out in the world again! The COVID situation is changing rapidly as I write this, but we found the actual travel to be very easy. We decided on southern Spain for several reasons: While we had toured northern Spain (and as far south as Toledo) a number of years ago, we had not previously visited some of the primary tourist destinations in southern Spain (such as Seville, Cordoba, and Granada). Also, Spain’s COVID travel restrictions as of this spring were a little less restrictive than other countries. Finally, we love Europe!
Our primary destinations were: Trujillo, Merida, Seville, Ronda, Gibraltar (U.K.), Granada, Córdoba, Conseugra, and Cuenca, with a number of other interesting stops along the way.
The Roman Temple of Diana in Merida.
Pandemic Travel
The biggest hassle was the paperwork required by the airlines (United and Lufthansa) prior to departure and return. We had to upload our vaccination cards and fill out questionnaires besides providing the typical passport information. All this information had to be approved by the airline prior to receiving boarding passes, but not more than 24 hours in advance. Frankly, it was easier just providing all the required documentation at the airport check-in counters. Spain required us to fill out a straightforward questionnaire and obtain a QR code ahead of time that we could show (upon arrival at the Madrid airport they just scanned the QR code and that was it, simple). Traveling back to the U.S. (at the time) required a negative COVID test which we were able to get at the Madrid airport prior to our departing return flight (test results were available in less than 30 minutes). Masks were required indoors in Spain, so we just kept our masks with us at all times, and also kept our vaccination cards with us in case anyone asked (which they didn’t).
We traveled in early March, a pretty good time to go. Tourist sites were not crowded, and the weather was generally pleasant (we had one rainy day and one stormy/windy day with Saharan sand covering our car with a fine layer of dust and turning the sky an orange hue).
Tourist Site Reservations
The only reservations we made ahead of time were for the Alhambra in Granada and the Cathedral/Rooftop Tour in Seville. There were no lines to speak of at either site, but we thought it would be smart to book ahead for these popular sites. Under normal travel conditions, reserving tickets for the Alhambra is a must.
A view of the Alhambra in Granada. In March, the mountains were covered in snow.
Logistics
As we typically do, we rented a car (through Avis this time) and are very glad we did. Having a car allows you to explore surprising little out-of-the-way villages or sights that would not be accessible otherwise. Examples include Alcalá la Real, Calatrava la Nueva and Alarcón – more to come on these little gems in later posts.
Alarcón castle – now a parador (hotel).
We covered about 1,600 miles during our two-week tour and didn’t need to drive more than about 3.5 hours in any given day. A map of our approximate route is shown below. We will break down the trip into segments for future posts.
Our approximate route through Southern Spain and Gibraltar. We covered a lot of ground over two weeks, but never felt rushed. We saw an amazing number of interesting sights and also enjoyed the varied landscape.
We stayed in lovely apartments in most destinations and found some great deals at the time – often not more than $100 US per night for 2+ bedrooms, kitchen, clothes washer and often 2 bathrooms (we had 4 people in our group). Our hosts were very prompt, friendly and welcoming.
Street entrance for our Granada apartment, in the old Albaicin quarter of the city.Our bedroom in Granada, we loved the old architecture.
It felt GREAT to be “back on the road again”….keep a look out for more to come on this amazing adventure!
The Independent Tourist 