Turquoise lagoons
Linked by falls.
Pacodonderis — CC BY-SA 4.0 · M.Peinado from Alcalá de Henares, España — CC BY 2.0 · M.Peinado from Alcalá de Henares, España — CC BY 2.0 · M.Peinado from Alcalá de Henares, España — CC BY 2.0 · Pachug — CC BY-SA 3.0
The Lagunas de Ruidera is a natural park on the La Mancha plain in central Spain, holding 15 small lagoons, with its visitor centre near the village of Ruidera. It covers about 38 square kilometres across the municipalities of Argamasilla de Alba, Ruidera, Alhambra, Ossa de Montiel and Villahermosa. The chain of lagoons and the man-made Peñarroya reservoir are linked by falls, small streams and underground flows, stretching 20 km from southeast to northwest along the valley of the Upper Guadiana, once considered the river's source. The park includes Peñarroya castle, the ruins of Rochafrida castle and the Cave of Montesinos, where the hero of Cervantes' Don Quixote spends a night. The lagoons spread in shades of blue and turquoise green between hills covered in pine and juniper, linked by small waterfalls tumbling over limestone barriers. Reeds and water plants grow along their shores, home to waterbirds. Visitors move between the lagoons by car along the road that passes them, stopping at viewpoints and falls. They also walk the boardwalks by the water. It gets busy in the summer holidays, so spring and autumn are quieter.
Linked by falls.
From Don Quixote.
Along the shores.
Ruidera, Ciudad Real, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain
By car along the road past them.
Spring and autumn.