We had a slow start to the day and took advantage of the sun to do some laundry and to chill in the campsite planning the next few days of the trip. The campsite had a great laundry room and rows of communal washing lines – that always keeps me happy!! 🤣
At about 3 we headed to Medina del Campo, primarily to see the famous 15th century castle Castillo de La Mota, which had been recommended to us by the lady at the castle in Aguilar del Campo! Dave realised on our approach that he had been there 21 years earlier with some colleagues while they were visiting the Rueda wine region.
We got an audio guide from the visitor centre and it gave a pretty good overview of the castle’s history and strategic importance. It was extended and much frequented by the catholic monarchs, whose coat of arms are over the door. It linked further to the story of Juana 1 de Castilla as she had been shut in the room with the wooden shutters. In 1502, Juana and her husband were confirmed next in line to the throne of Spain. She wanted to return with him to Flanders but had fallen pregnant so her parents persuaded her to stay in Spain to have the baby and he went back to Flanders alone. When she’d had the child, they wanted her to stay on and locked her in this castle after a disagreement until May 5003. This was not the last time that she was incarcerated because her subsequent incarceration from 1509 in Tordesillas lasted 46 years.
We had to shelter briefly from a rain storm but it then got pretty warm again. We walked down into the town to visit the Isabel La Católica royal testament palace. This was where she lived and dictated her last will and testament in the presence of various trusted individuals in 1504. The occasion was later portrayed in a painting and a room in the palace was dedicated to explaining the painting, which is in the Prado in Madrid, and displaying a copy.
Eduardo Rosales. Queen Isabel la Católica dictating her last will and testament (Doña Isabel la Católica dictando su testamento)
Painted in 1864 and now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
We wandered around the square. There was a typically Spanish early-evening vibe, with children kicking a ball around and Spanish chatter building in volume from the surrounding bars. Dave needed to buy a new lead to transfer photos from his camera to his computer and was having trouble finding one. We tried three shops and he showed a photo and asked ‘tiene uno de estos’ in confident Spanish. 😃 despite having three helpers in one shop, including a guy who had a look ‘out the back’, we didn’t manage to find one. It was a bit too early for the tapas we had considered, so we instead headed back to the campsite with a couple of slices of empanada de atún purchased in a local baker’s shop for our dinner. Dessert was chocolate hobnobs washed down with Spanish brandy! 🤣
Words of the day:
Castillo = castle 🤣
Empanada de atún = Empanada de atún is a traditional pie from Galicia, up in Spain’s north west corner. Filled with tinned tuna, onions, peppers, olives and hard-boiled eggs in a tomato sauce, the simple ingredients nevertheless create a pie that’s incredibly good.
Tiene uno de estos? = have you got one of these?
I think we went to the Prato when we visited you in Madrid.