Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities. Its capital city is Toledo, and its most populous city is Albacete.
It is mostly in this region where the story of the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is situated - due to which La Mancha is internationally well-known. Although La Mancha is a windswept, battered plateau, it remains a symbol of the Spanish culture with its vineyards, sunflowers, mushrooms, oliveyards, windmills, Manchego cheese, and Don Quixote.