Logbook · 9 places

Cave of Montesinos

Ossa de Montiel, Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel, Albacete

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

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Albacete › Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel › Ossa de Montiel › Cave of Montesinos

Cave of Montesinos

Nature · Ossa de Montiel, Sierra de Alcaraz y Campo de Montiel, Albacete

Cave of Montesinos

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.

Photo: Pablo Sanchez from Sunnyvale, CA, USA (CC BY 2.0)

What to see and do in Ossa de Montiel