Cesare Borgia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
maleborgia) wrote2012-07-27 06:58 pm
maleborgia) wrote2012-07-27 06:58 pm
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Travel Pics: Medina del Campo
In May, I realized that my time in Spain was rapidly coming to an end and that I had not seen something that I really wanted to. So one Monday I skipped class, went to the train station, and rented me a tiny little green car and a GPS. (Thanks Mom and Dad for only owning manual!)
I could only really get out of the car on the more out of the way parts, but a lot of it cut through the mountains and was really really pretty.
It was a five hour drive up to the little town of Medina del Campo, iirc, close to Madrid, made a little longer because I stopped at Mérida on the way to look at the Roman ruins, but it was a lovely drive up along the Ruta de la Plata. I saw toro, horns and all, grazing right off the road; rainbows; and the second most beautiful night sky--complete with super moon!--I've ever had the good luck to stumble upon.
Eventually I ended up in Medina del Campo--which as I learned also is the home of Queen Isabella's death place. Somehow I missed that when looking up stuff about the town.
What I was really here to see, however, was the castle that the queen had had built to defend the area and that was used to hold several notable prisoners over the years. One of whom was, of course, Cesare.
Don't you tell me I'm crazy, I already know I'm crazy.
Unfortunately it turned out that on Mondays the tower was closed to guests, so I couldn't actually go inside on the tour, but...
After Pius II became Pope in 1503, Cesare was arrested and sent to Spain where he was imprisoned not in Medina del Campo but more in the east. He tried to escape from there, however, and was subsequently moved to this castle, as it was considered basically the Alcatraz of its day. No one had ever successfully escaped, etc etc. He was put up in that tower and I'm pretty sure this is the window that he, of course, did manage to escape out of.
To be fair, I think everything on this part is citing the one same source.
From here he rode up to Viana, which I already posted about!
I could only really get out of the car on the more out of the way parts, but a lot of it cut through the mountains and was really really pretty.
It was a five hour drive up to the little town of Medina del Campo, iirc, close to Madrid, made a little longer because I stopped at Mérida on the way to look at the Roman ruins, but it was a lovely drive up along the Ruta de la Plata. I saw toro, horns and all, grazing right off the road; rainbows; and the second most beautiful night sky--complete with super moon!--I've ever had the good luck to stumble upon.
Eventually I ended up in Medina del Campo--which as I learned also is the home of Queen Isabella's death place. Somehow I missed that when looking up stuff about the town.
What I was really here to see, however, was the castle that the queen had had built to defend the area and that was used to hold several notable prisoners over the years. One of whom was, of course, Cesare.
Don't you tell me I'm crazy, I already know I'm crazy.
Unfortunately it turned out that on Mondays the tower was closed to guests, so I couldn't actually go inside on the tour, but...
After Pius II became Pope in 1503, Cesare was arrested and sent to Spain where he was imprisoned not in Medina del Campo but more in the east. He tried to escape from there, however, and was subsequently moved to this castle, as it was considered basically the Alcatraz of its day. No one had ever successfully escaped, etc etc. He was put up in that tower and I'm pretty sure this is the window that he, of course, did manage to escape out of.
To be fair, I think everything on this part is citing the one same source.
From here he rode up to Viana, which I already posted about!