Thursday was a very car-intensive day, exploring the little known sights of Segovia province. The city of Segovia, about ninety minutes north of Madrid, is a very popular day trip from Madrid, but the rest of the province is more or less neglected. Our first stop was Medina del Campo, an ugly market town that would make a good candidate for hosting the Spanish version of The Office. But unlike Slough or Scranton, this town was actually an historical powerhouse. During the middle ages it hosted Europe's main trading fair, when merchants and bankers from all over Europe flocked to do deals. The town and the market were wiped out a couple of times, and the current town is completely lacking in character. It has only one remnant of its history, this castle of La Mota. It was one of several castles owned by the powerful, and much hated, Fonseca family, until they were thrown out by the townspeople in the fifteenth century. The castle was then used as a prison and a school and now just sort of sits there. It's a quintessential castle, but stuck in a patch of green surrounded by the modern town, so the location sort of ruins the mytique.
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