Don Quixote's Windmills, Campo de Criptana
Perched on the Cerro de la Paz ridge above the whitewashed village of Campo de Criptana, ten restored 16th-century windmills stand exactly as Cervantes imagined when he wrote Don Quixote. Arriving at golden hour, when the sails glow amber against a cobalt sky, is one of the most cinematic moments in all of Spain.
The Windmills Up Close
Three of the mills — Burleta, Sardinera and Infanto — are open to visitors and contain original grinding machinery, wooden cog wheels and millstones that still smell faintly of flour. Stepping inside one gives you a visceral sense of how these machines dominated the flat Manchegan plain for centuries.
The surrounding ridge is flanked by fields of saffron crocus in October and sunflowers in July, so the backdrop changes dramatically with the season. Either visit rewards completely different photographs.
The Village Below
Campo de Criptana itself is a classic Manchegan pueblo with a tangle of cobbled lanes, cave-house museums and a small bodega district where local Airén white wine is poured for almost nothing. The Museo de Sara Montiel, dedicated to the Hollywood-era Spanish actress born here, is a charming detour.
The village's tourist office on Calle Barbiana runs a free guided walk every Saturday morning that connects the windmill ridge to the old Arab quarter in under two hours.
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