Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Ossa de Montiel

What to see and do in Ossa de Montiel (Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel, Albacete): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

When to go to Ossa de Montiel: festival calendar

August: Fair of Ossa de Montiel (Del 16 al 20 de agosto)

How far each place is from the centre of Ossa de Montiel

Towns near Ossa de Montiel

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What to see in Viveros 26 km · 7 places
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What to see in Alhambra 28 km · 7 places
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Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Albacete › Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel › Ossa de Montiel

What to see and do in Ossa de Montiel

Ossa de Montiel
Village
Municipality of the comarca of Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel, in the province of Albacete, the only one of the historic Campo de Montiel included in this province after the territorial reorganisation of 1833; to its district belongs most of the Lagunas de Ruidera nature park, declared in 1979, with nine lagoons linked by the Upper Guadiana, and also the cave of Montesinos, setting of one of the most famous episodes of Don Quixote. It preserves the ruins of the castle of Rochafrida and a Gothic church of the early sixteenth century with a Mudéjar wooden roof.
Cave of Montesinos
Nature
The cueva de Montesinos is a karst cavity located near Ossa de Montiel, formed by the dissolution of the limestone that dominates the Lagunas de Ruidera nature park. It has a maximum depth of 45 metres, a width of 59 metres and a height of about 18 metres, with a large chamber in whose dome lives a colony of bats. There is evidence of its occupation since the Bronze Age. Cervantes made it the setting for the adventure in which Don Quixote descends to its depths and, sunk in an hour-long sleep that seems to him to last three days, meets the character of Montesinos, an episode told in chapters xxii to xxiv of the second part of the novel. It holds the declaration of bien de interés cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in the category of historic site.
Ruidera lagoons in Ossa de Montiel
Nature
Most of the natural park lies within the municipal district of Ossa de Montiel, which holds nine lagoons: Concejo, Tomilla, Tinaja, San Pedro, Redondilla, Lengua, Santo Morcillo, Batana and La Colgada, linked by the Guadiana Alto.
Castle of Rochafrida
Monument
Ruins some seven kilometres from the village, with Visigothic features and rebuilding during the Muslim period in the 12th century. It is mentioned in the Castilian ballad tradition.
Church of Santa María Magdalena de Ossa de Montiel
Monument
Gothic temple from the early 16th century, with a rectangular floor plan, transverse diaphragm arches, Mudéjar wooden roofing and a bell-gable crowning the façade. At the foot stands a raised choir supported by pillars, and the portal opens in a semicircular arch.
Hermitage of San Pedro de Verona
Monument
The San Pedro de Verona hermitage, in the Albacete municipality of Ossa de Montiel, stands on the remains of the old Mozarabic hermitage of San Pedro de Sahelices, damaged during the Civil War and finally demolished in 1943. The original hermitage was reproduced in drawings by Daniel Urrabieta Vierge for Auguste F. Jaccaci's work Au pays de Don Quichotte (1901), and is mentioned in chapter XXIV of the second part of Don Quixote. The new building known to residents today was erected on its site, the destination of one of the municipality's traditional pilgrimages.
Fair of Ossa de Montiel
Activity
The Feria de Ossa de Montiel is the municipality's main festival, the leading summer event at this gateway to the Ruidera lagoons. It is held from 16 to 20 August.
The only municipality of Albacete's La Mancha in the Campo de Montiel
Curiosity
In the territorial reorganisation of 1833 driven by Javier de Burgos, Ossa de Montiel passed from the province of Ciudad Real to the newly created province of Albacete, becoming the only municipality of the historic Campo de Montiel to form part of the latter.
The Ruidera Lagoons, declared a natural park
Historical milestone
A royal decree declared a nature park in 1979 the string of stepped lagoons of the upper Guadiana, spread between Ossa de Montiel and several municipalities of Ciudad Real; it was one of the first protection figures of this kind in Castilla-La Mancha.