Page 405 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

C ASTILLA-LA M ANCHA  403

Calatrava la Nueva castle-monastery, dominating the plains of La Mancha
the building continued to be Environs towers. Breeding birds here
used as a monastery until it was To the northwest is Ciudad Real, include great crested grebes
abandoned in 1802 following founded by Alfonso X the and mallards. Otters and red
fire damage. Learned in 1255. Its sights foxes are also found in the park.
Opposite the castle are the include the Iglesia de San Pedro
ruins of a Muslim frontier fortress, and the Mudéjar gate way, the
Salvatierra, which was captured Puerta de Toledo. c Valle de Alcudia
from the Moors by the Order of Ciudad Real. @ Fuencaliente. n Plaza
Calatrava in the 12th century. Mayor 41, 926 47 02 88 (closed Mon).
Alcudia’s lush lowlands, which
z Almagro border the Sierra Morena
foothills to the south, are
Ciudad Real. * 9,100. £ @
n Ejido de Calatrava 1, 926 86 07 17. among Central Spain’s most
( Wed. _ Virgen de las Nieves unspoiled countryside. The area
(5 Aug), San Bartolomé (23–24 Aug). is used largely as pastureland.
∑ ciudad-almagro.com In late autumn it is filled with
sheep, whose milk makes the
Almagro was disputed during farmhouse cheese for which
the Reconquest, until the Order the valley is known.
of Calatrava captured it and Raised walkway in the Parque Nacional The mountain village of
built the castle of Calatrava la de Las Tablas de Daimiel Fuencaliente has thermal baths
Nueva to the southwest of the that open in the summer. Further
town. The rich architec tural x Tablas de Daimiel north, Almadén is the site of
heritage of the atmos pheric Ciudad Real. @ Daimiel. n Daimiel, a large mercury mine with a
Old Town is partly the legacy Calle Santa Teresa s/n, 926 26 06 39 museum. Chillón, to the north-
of the Fugger brothers, the (closed Mon). 8 book in advance. west, has a Late Gothic church.
Habsburgs’ bankers who ∑ lastablasdedaimiel.com
settled in nearby Almadén
during the 16th century. The marshy wetlands of the
The town’s main attraction Tablas de Daimiel, northeast
is its colonnaded stone plaza, of Ciudad Real, are the feed ing
with enclosed, green balconies. and nesting grounds of a huge
On one side is a 17th-century range of aquatic and migratory
courtyard-theatre the Corral birds. Despite being national
de Comedias – where a drama parkland since 1973, in recent
festival is held for the Festival years they became an ecolog-
de Teatro Clásico every summer. ical cause célèbre due to the
Other monuments worth growing threat from the area’s
seeing include the Fuggers’ lowering water table. They
Renaissance warehouse and are now fully recovered.
former university, and also One corner of the park is
the castle, which has been open to the public, with walking Small isolated farmhouse in the fertile Valle
converted into a parador. routes to islets and observation de Alcudia

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