Spanish student exchange: Day 4

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.