Alcázar de San Juan


Alcázar de San Juan is a town and municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is located in the plain of La Mancha.

History

Its name is taken from an old moorish fortress, which was afterwards garrisoned by the knights of St John.
Much of the action of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote takes place near Alcázar. The village of El Toboso was the home of the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso; Argamasilla de Alba is declared by some to be the birthplace of the original Don Quixote himself.
Alcázar de San Juan was a main railway hub on the Madrid–Valencia and Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz lines. The famous Third Mixed Brigade of the Spanish Republican Army was established in Alcázar de San Juan in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.

Main sights