Gordon Lightfoot Forums - travel to Spain and Don Quixote

Great article, Char. Thanks a million.

A couple of small inaccuracies. Toledo was never really the capital of "Spain" in any meaningful way, and was certainly not so at the end of the 16th c.; Madrid was established as the capital by the 1560s. Before that, the royal court wandered around from city to city--sometimes in Toledo, but also in Segovia, Seville, Granada and other cities. Before the early 16th century, there wasn't exactly a "Spain", anyway, but rather a number of kingdoms--Castile, Aragon, Navarre, etc.

Also, Toledo isn't exactly in La Mancha. It's a great, historic city with a rich history from Roman ("Toletum") and Visigoth times, through the Moorish occupation of the Peninsula, and onto our days--fabulous art and architecture, and the home of El Greco. In spite of the fact that it is now politically in the province of Castilla-La Mancha, it has always been considered part of New Castile ("Castilla la Nueva"), and not a part of La Mancha any more than Hamilton, Ont., would be considered a part of the U.S.

Also, a small but important detail about the book--Sancho did not always ride "behind" DQ, as stated in the article. Although DQ was somewhat reluctant to allow SP to ride next to DQ and to speak his mind freely (since he had never read of such a thing in the "libros de caballeri'as" or books of chivalry), he grants SP such a license (sometimes to his great chagrin). The wonderful dialogs that make up many of the most entertaining part of this great novel could never have happened if SP had ridden behind DQ, and DQ's basic magnaminity and humanity (in juxtaposition to his pride and arrogance) would not have surfaced in the novel.

The article brought back wonderful memories of my student days, when I backpacked across La Mancha,(at a time when NOBODY went there to vacation, especially from the U.S.) visiting El Toboso, Campo de Criptana, the Cave of Montesinos, the Lagunas de Ruidera and other places mentioned in the novel. Thanks for helping a "Quixote-aged" (50ish +) guy relive some of those times.