Thursday
we gathered at school and continued
working on our e-books.
Later
we visited a vine cellar which belongs to the local family and was one of the biggest cellars in town more
than 200 years ago.
The
next stop was in the Vinicola de Tomelloso, the biggest winery in Europe, which
provides a high quality wine, recognized by numerous awards in Spain and in the
main international markets, such as Germany, USA and China, among others.
Then
we went to Argamasilla de Alba where our inspiring acquaintance with one of the
most famous Spanish writers started.
Argamasilla
de Alba is the famous town of Miguel de Cervantes that offers visitors the
opportunity to see some of the most important places of Cervantes life, such as
the Cueva de Medrano or the Church of San Juan Bautista, which was started to
build in 1542 but left unfinished until the seventeenth century when it was topped
with architectural works and ornamentation. The temple was a donation of don
Rodrigo Pacheco who later inspired Cervantes to create his character Don
Quixote.
"Don
Quixote" is considered one of the greatest literary works of the
Renaissance. The author - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - has tested more than
one profession – was a Cardinal satellite, a soldier, a tax collector. In late
1580s, de Cervantes began working for Spanish Armada as a commissary. It was a
thankless task, collecting grain supplies from rural communities. Many did not
want to provide the goods, and de Cervantes ended up in prison on two occasions
because of charges of mismanagement According to the local legend, during his
imprisonment in Argamasilla de Alba , he began writing the novel about
ingenious nobleman Don Quixote La Mancher which is considered as one of the
greatest masterpieces in the world literature.
De
Cervantes published the first part of Don Quixote in 1605. The novel tells the
story of an elderly man who becomes so impressed by old stories of brave
knights that he seeks out his adventures. The title character soon gets lost in
his own fantasy world, believing he is one of these knights, and convinces a
poor peasant, Sancho Panca, to serve as his squire.
In
the middle of the twentieth century the Hueva de Medrano was in really bad
condition so the City Council decided to reconstruct the building and April 23,
1994, commemorating the death of Cervantes, the new building of a municipal
library, exhibition gallery, auditorium and tourist office was opened. Nowadays
a great number of exhibitions, festivals, performances take place here every
year.
We
returned back to Tomelloso full of magnificent impressions after a wonderful sunny
day spent in the literary atmosphere.
In
the afternoon teachers had a meeting at school in which they planned the
furthest work during the project.
