Castile La Mancha

Castile La Mancha is one of the most sparsely populated regions of Spain that is divided into 5 provinces: Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo. Unlike the majority of Spain which is mountaneous, the landscape in La Mancha is flat, and the climate dry and hot. But the region has a special beauty of its own.

Unfortunately, the landscape of La Mancha will be changing in the near future.

"But all that’s about to change with the announcement that this sleepy section of central Spain is to be the new home of a Las Vegas style gambling and leisure complex. It’s one of the most ambitious projects of its kind that Europe has ever seen and it has put the world spotlight firmly on a previously overlooked region which, until now, had only a 400-year-old novel as its major claim to fame.

Construction work on the project, announced at the end of November 2005, is due to start towards the end of 2006 in the province of Ciudad Real, 190 kilometres south of Madrid. It will include a 50,000 square foot casino, a luxury hotel with 850 rooms, a 30,000 square foot spa centre, a shopping mall and a 3,000 seat theatre.

Due for completion in 2008, the scheme is the brainchild of American entertainment giants Harrah’s who operate several luxurious gambling centres in Las Vegas including Caesar’s Palace which is probably the most prestigious casino resort in the world.

So if you want a taste of that magical “Man from La Mancha” country where most foreign tourists fear to tread, you’d better get there fairly quickly! Two new motorways and a planned international airport are included in the project which looks set to propel Castilla-La Mancha into the ranks of Europe’s top entertainment centres."
(excerpt from here)