On the trail of Don Quixote

Don Quixote is a 16th century Spanish Literary classic about a would be knight and his side kick Sancha. Hospital de Orbigo (which is a town, not a hospital) is the sort of town the mythical Quixote may have travelled to attend a jousting tournament. The jousting fields have been in use next to the long cobblestone bridge for centuries and tournaments are still held here in 2022.

Legend has it Don Suero de Quiñones and nine other knights, his friends, defended the Hospital de Órbigo bridge for a month against any knight who wanted to cross it. The bridge witnessed up to 700 combats in which knights from all corners of the Peninsula, Germany, France or Portugal participated. The chronicles speak of a single deceased, a Catalan knight who received a spear to the eye. This was all a display put on for a king to win the hand of a woman and so the tradition of a jousting tournament here was born.

The whole fairy tale was exactly that, with no written evidence of the event until at least 150 years later. Cervantes then immortalised the tales by referring to it in Don Quixote.

Tonight I find myself in the cutest of accommodation with a comfy rocking chair and a nice hot shower, after a stroll through the rain this morning.

"he who's down one day can be up the next, unless he really wants to stay in bed, that is..." Don QuixoteLeer más