In addition to visiting Campo de Criptana yesterday, I stopped in Alcazar de San Juan and El Toboso. Both are relatively small and El Toboso is one of the smallest and sleepiesg towns I've been in.
Alcazar de San Juan is not too relevant to Don Quixote, though it is technically part of Quixote's route since there is a "Ruta de Quijote" sign in the city. One source I've seen claims that he was born there, but besides that, I haven't read anything else relating it to the novel. It has a population of about 31,500 people, so it isn't nearly as small as El Toboso, which has only 2,000 residents. With such a larger population, it doesn't revolve around Quixote like the other towns I've visited. There's one statue of him and Sancho, but that's it. That said, it's a nice town and it reminded me of some of the less populated parts of California. It was definitely worth stopping there for an hour especially because it was on the way to Campo de Criptana.
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| This was all that was related to Quixote in Alcazar de San Juan |
El Toboso, unlike Alcazar de San Juan, capitalizes on don Quixote. Quixote claims to love someone he calls "Dulcinea de Toboso", so the otherwise sleepy town is now one of
the stops to make while following the route. I was in El Toboso for half an hour, and I saw only two other people during that time. It was hot, everyone was taking siestas, some tractors drove by, and nothing else happened. No stores were open either. It was a ghost town and I loved being there. There were a lot of statues of Quixote and Dulcinea, and everywhere I looked I could see the green "Quixote" signs. It's interesting to see how one novel brought an otherwise inconspicuous town such fame.
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| Rocinante is Quixote's dying horse. It actually means "horse-like", not really "horse" |
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| Don Quixote kneeling in front of Dulcinea |
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| Leaving El Toboso. Had to fight the urge to attack them |
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