By carÁWá — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Guadalajara, Spain · Spain
A high tableland split by valleys, between Guadalajara and Cuenca, that has had a name of its own in Spanish literature ever since Camilo José Cela walked it in 1946 and wrote 'Journey to the Alcarria'. Here are the honey it has always made, the golden-stone villages and the most famous lavender fields in Spain, which in recent years have had their own festival. And two stories you would not expect: the Princess of Éboli died confined in Pastrana, and at Zorita, in the year 578, one of the very few cities Europe founded between Rome and Charlemagne was raised.
Torija, Trijueque and Brihuega · 27 km
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A 15th-century castle that today holds the museum devoted to 'Journey to the Alcarria', the book Camilo José Cela wrote in 1946 after crossing this region on foot. It is the stop that gives meaning to everything that follows.
Cela did in ten days, mostly on foot, what you will do in three by car. The museum recreates the book and the journey step by step: worth the hour even if you have not read the book.
10 min to the next stop · 6 km
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A small village with a lookout known as the Balcony of the Alcarria, taking in the whole plateau and the valleys cutting through it. It explains the geography of the entire region in five minutes.
It is a short stop, but better made early than late: understanding that the Alcarria is high tableland split by valleys makes the rest of the trip read differently.
15 min to the next stop · 15 km
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They call it the Garden of the Alcarria. It keeps stretches of wall with the Cadena gate and the Cozagón arch, a maze of Moorish caves dug beneath the village, and the Royal Cloth Factory, which Ferdinand VI had built in 1750 to an unusual circular plan and which is surrounded today by a 19th-century garden.
The Moorish caves have limited opening hours and are often visited with a guide: check beforehand, as there are only a few slots each day.
10 min to the next stop · 6 km
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Hundreds of hectares of lavandin on the tableland, north of the village, which in recent years, with the festival, have made Brihuega one of the most visited destinations in the province.
Take note: the fields are NOT in the village. You must drive a few kilometres out by road: ask the tourist office for the map of access routes to the fields. And they are private farms: you look from the tracks, you do not walk into them.
Cifuentes, Trillo and Monsalud · 105 km
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They call it the town of a hundred fountains, from the spring that rises beside the village and gives birth to the river of the same name. It keeps the church of El Salvador, with a 13th-century Romanesque doorway, and the convent of Santo Domingo, with a Renaissance façade.
The castle cannot always be visited inside: ask before counting on it. What is worth doing is walking down to the river's source, just outside the village.
15 min to the next stop · 12 km
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The river Cifuentes drops through the village in a series of falls before flowing into the Tajo, with a 16th-century bridge crossing right above. The thermal waters here were already used by the Romans, and in 1778 Charles III built them a spa that became famous across Spain.
An honest note: a few kilometres from the village you see the Trillo nuclear plant, with its cooling towers. It is part of the landscape and it is worth knowing before you arrive.
45 min to the next stop · 44 km
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A 12th-century Cistercian monastery at Córcoles, ruined but with the church and chapter house still standing. It is among the oldest in the province and, as Cistercian austerity demands, has hardly any ornament: only leaf-carved capitals in the chapter house.
It sits off the road and there is almost never anyone there. Check the opening hours before making the detour, as it opens for only a few hours.
Pastrana, Zorita and Recópolis · 18 km
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The ducal town, hanging between ravines. In its palace Ana de Mendoza, the Princess of Éboli, died confined; Philip II shut her here for her final years and, according to tradition, she was allowed out onto the square for only an hour a day, which is why it is called the Square of the Hour. The collegiate church holds four 15th-century Flemish tapestries.
The collegiate church and the tapestry museum are visited with a guide at set times. Check the slots before planning your morning, as there is no rolling admission.
15 min to the next stop · 13 km
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A Calatrava castle above the Tajo and, a kilometre away, the remains of Recópolis: a city the Visigothic king Leovigild founded in 578 and, according to tradition, named after his son Reccared. It is one of the very few cities built from scratch anywhere in western Europe between the fall of Rome and Charlemagne.
That is what makes this stop unique: in those centuries almost nobody in Europe founded new cities. Here they did, and you can walk the layout.
This getaway is in the app, day by day, with every stop on the map, the drives between them and where to sleep, and the option to save it for when there is no signal.
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