Ciudad Real, the "Royal City", lies between the rivers Guadiana and Jabalón. It preserves few remains from its glorious and warlike past. Now chief town of its province, it lies in the center of La Mancha, the home of Don Quixote, the "knight of the rueful countenance".
History
In 1252 Alfonso X, the
Wise, established the fortress of Villareal on the site of the town of Alarcos, which had been destroyed by the Moors, in order to assert his authority against the over-mighty power of the Order of Calatrava and the Knights Templar in this frontier region facing Moorish territory. In 1420, during the reign of John II, the place was chartered as a town and given its present name.