Mondéjar sits on the edge of the Alcarria, a region of limestone plateaus, deep valleys, olive groves and honey east of Madrid, which Camilo José Cela made famous in his 1948 travel book Viaje a la Alcarria. The landscape has changed little since then: wide skies, fields of cereals and lavender, small villages of stone houses, and the sense of being much further from the capital than you actually are.
The village itself is quiet, with an arcaded main square and a large parish church. On its edge stand the ruins of the convent of San Antonio, an early example of Renaissance architecture in Castile, now roofless and overgrown but still elegant, with its arches standing against the sky. Mondéjar also has its own wine designation, producing mostly red and white wines from local vineyards, and you can buy a bottle in the village for the evening.
The riding in the Alcarria is a pleasure. The roads are mostly quiet, with a mix of long straights across the plateaus and winding descents into the valleys, where rivers like the Tajuña and the Tagus have carved deep gorges. The surface is usually good, though it can be patchy on the smaller roads. Not far to the north-east, Pastrana is a beautiful old town where the Princess of Éboli, a famous figure of the court of Philip II, was confined for the last years of her life. To the west, Nuevo Baztán is an unusual planned village built in the early eighteenth century by the architect José Benito de Churriguera for a wealthy banker.
Mondéjar is a small place, so services are limited; if you need fuel, it is safest to fill up in one of the larger towns in the area. There are bars and restaurants serving simple Castilian food, and a coffee on the square is always possible. Summers here are very hot and dry, with temperatures often above thirty-five degrees, so ride early and carry water. Spring, when the fields are green and the lavender is flowering, and autumn, when the light softens, are the best times.