Belmonte Castle

The first stop on our Don Quijote Experience with Julià Travel was Belmonte Castle. As we pulled off the main road and wound down country lanes, I started to get excited. We passed a few windmills, which I frantically tried to photograph (tip: there were better windmill photo opportunities later). Then we got a glimpse of the castle. I'd seen pictures when researching the trip, but wow... this was an impressive castle.

Belmonte was built in the 15th century by Don Juan Pacheco, the Marquess of Villena. At the time, the Iberian Peninsula was divided into four kingdoms and an emirate - Portugal, Castile, Aragon, Navarra, and Granada. Castile was the largest kingdom and Don Pacheco was bffs with its king, Henry IV. At the time, many deals and alliances were being made with the various other kingdoms, sometimes contradicting one another. Don Pacheco decided to built fortify his family land in case things went south, including building a castle at his birthplace, Belmonte.

The castle was built in the Gothic-Mudejar style, on a large hill. The keep has three sides and the walls are in the shape of a six-pointed star with round towers at each corner. Despite being abandoned during several points in its history, it's one of the best preserved/restored medieval castles in Spain. Some unique features include a beautifully carved stone bestiary surrounding a window, elaborate Mudejar ceilings, a small armor hall, and toilets that are basically holes carved in stone seats, hanging over open air.

Henry IV's (possibly illegitimate) daughter, Juana la Beltraneja, lived here for part of her childhood. Later she would briefly be (her father's half-sister) Isabel's rival to the throne. The king of Portugal - also Juana's maternal uncle - married her, attempting to create an alliance with Castile. Meanwhile, Isabel was off marrying Ferdinand of Aragon, after Henry IV attempted to betroth her to royalty in just about every surrounding Catholic kingdom, depending on what way the wind was blowing at that moment. At one point, Isabel had even been engaged to Don Pacheco's brother, as Henry was hoping for a much-needed cash infusion from the Pachecos. (If you need a chart to keep these relationships straight, this one has a few of the key players.)

Belmonte was effectively abandoned for a couple hundred years, before Empress Eugenia de Montijo - the Spanish-French wife of Napoleon III - had it restored, updating the interior while keeping the exterior in its original, fortress-like style. It's been restored again recently. Portions of the keep are decorated in Medieval style, while other portions are decorated as they were in the 19th century, after Eugenia's restorations. It's a neat way to get a sense of how the castle has functioned throughout history.

Toward the end of the castle tour, we climbed up to the top of the towers and were treated to a great view of the surrounding countryside. A church bell rang as we looked out over the nearby village, fields of wheat and poppies, hills, walls, and windmills. The castle is privately owned today, hosts various events from Medieval Days to Inquisition-themed Fright Nights, and can even be rented for special occasions. All in all, it's a neat place to visit. From here, our bus headed on to Mont Reaga winery.