On our third full day of the tour, we piled into the bus and ventured to La Mancha - Don Quixote country.
First we stopped at the mill at
Wooldreamers in Mota del Cuervo.
There were merino sheep outside in the rain but they didn't seem to mind.
Inside was a full mill operation. This woman was skirting fleeces; sorting parts of the fleece and removing unusable bits. There is only a small area on the back of a sheep's fleece that is good for processing fine wool and yarn, the other useable wool is used for felt and carpets.
Fleeces here are from all over Europe.
This was a 3m high pile of fluffy merino wool fibre after being cleaned and picked. It was ready to be carded and made into rovings for the final steps of spinning and plying.
We then were driven to a high point of the area where some iconic windmills remain. Of course, there were statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. (factoid: 'panza' means 'belly' in Spanish. Cervantes was a real joker)
In their day, they were used to grind grain into meal and flour.
We also toured Belmonte Castle - from Medieval times. It was a key fortress and a symbol of power in turbulent times - the mid 1400s. It is a very unusual equilateral triangle shape with 6 towers/turrets.
Photo from Google Maps
Belmonte Castle is a representative example of Gothic-Mudejar architecture. The fortress is designed in a star shape, an uncommon structure among castles in the Iberian Peninsula. Its geometric design, with turrets at the points, allows for more effective defense and provides a panoramic view of the surroundings, as it has towers 22 meters high.
There were many rooms, lots of furniture.
One of the really remarkable features was all the woodwork - floors and ceilings.
After lunch we were taken to the Wooldreamers showroom and outlet in downtown Mota del Cuervo. I didn't take any photos there for some reason.
This photo is showing the wooden cheese presses.
The chevron design and grass periphery is iconic to Manchego cheese.
I was this many years old before I realized manchego cheese comes from La Mancha. D'uh!
In the local gift shop I tried to find a personalized story book for Ernesto but to no avail. Enzo's book title translated is 'Enzo, the magicians need YOUR help!' Ernest left empty-pawed.
This was our group photo in front of the Wooldreamers shop in town.
Then we were off to the
Mont Reaga winery for a tour.
They were ready for us. This was all set up when we walked in.
After the tour, we participated in a wine tasting.
Of course we sampled some sausage and manchego cheese.
We piled back on the bus for the rainy drive back to Madrid.
That night we were on our own for dinner. Poppy and I visited the local grocery store 1/2 block from the hotel and picked up snacky food for supper.
It was a very full and informative day.
The next day would be our day with
Carol Feller and her knitting instruction.
