Spain Castilla y Leon Avila Burgos Leon Palencia Salamanca Segovia Soria Valladolid Zamora CONTENTS Introduction 1 A walk through the capital cities Avila 8 Burgos 11 Leon 14 Palencia 17 Salamanca 20 Dublín United Kingdom Segovia 23 Soria 26 Ireland London Valladolid 29 Zamora 32 Enjoying Castilla y Leon 35 Avila. The circus of Gredos 36 París Burgos. Heart of Castille 38 Leon. The Road to Santiago 40 France Palencia. The romanesque 42 Salamanca. The mountains 44 Segovia. The Royal Houses 46 Cantabrian Sea Soria. The lands of el Cid 48 Valladolid. Vineyards and monasteries 50 Castilla y León Zamora. Lakes of Sanabria 52 Leisure and entertainment 54 Madrid Useful information 60 Portugal Lisbon Spain Mediterranean Sea Melilla Ceuta Text: Printed by: Javier Tomé GAEZ, S.A. Translation: D.L. M-24401-2000 Alistair Louis Ross Morocco Maqueta: NIPO: 104-99-042-7 OPCIÓN K, Comunicación Visual, S.L. Printed in Spain Photographs: Archivo Turespaña 1st edition Published by © Turespaña Secretaría de Estado de Comercio y Turismo Ministerio de Economía Introduction the largest region in the European Union. TERRITORY The basic axis of the territory is the basin of the river Duero, If there is one word that sums the largest in Spain. The major up the complex reality of the communication routes region of Castilla y Leon, that between the capital Madrid and word is “monumental”. the Atlantic regions all run Everything about the geography through here. Castilla y Leon, and the culture of this Region, then, is situated in the northern strategically situated in the part of the central Spanish north-east Iberian Peninsula, is plateau. Its borders are on a grand scale. The demarcated by natural tremendous variety of detail boundaries – the Cordillera there is the product of sheer Cantabrica to the north, the physical size – Castilla y Leon Sistema Iberico to the east, the covers one-fifth of Spanish Sistema Central to the south and territory. With a total area of the mountains of Galicia/Leon to 94,147 square kilometres, it is the west. Villafranca del Bierzo. Leon 1 The river Duero, the country’s Gredos contains extensive largest electric power source, stands of the famous and descends in torrents from the highly-prized Scots pine. heart of the Sistema Iberico at an altitude of over 2000 metres. Given the size of the region, The central axis for the whole Castilla y Leon naturally offers area, the river’s natural impetus an enormous variety of wildlife. is attenuated when it reaches The wildest area is home to the plains. Criss-crossed by a endangered species like the network of tributaries to the wolf or the brown bear, which main Duero stream, these are now the subject of consist of three broad protective regulations intended topographical types – high to preserve mammal species barren plains, flatlands and historically pursued by man. fertile river plains. The emblematic mountain goat inhabits the mountains of Because of the differences in Gredos, while the Cordillera physical and orographic Cantabrica harbours deer, wild conditions, there is a boar and urogallo, a large tremendous variety of plant life. wildfowl akin to the The most widespread tree is the capercaillie. Avian species holm oak, a hardy species able include the imperial eagle, the to withstand both heat and tawny vultures of Río Lobos cold. Holm oaks can be found in Canyon and storks that winter every province of the region, in Villafáfila. both on open moorland and in woods. Chestnuts also abound What actually makes for such on cool, nutrient-rich lands, varied and attractive scenery is particularly in areas of north- the majestic heterogeneity of west Leon. And finally, the the mountain ranges that form forest cover of the Sierra de the Region’s natural River Carrion, Palencia Berlanga de Duero. Soria Sierra de Gredos. Ávila boundaries. The permanent HISTORY snowy caps of the highest peaks provide a background of In the dawn of prehistory, a eternal beauty, while the nucleus of tribes established the middle zones are populated by first settlements in this ancient rich woodlands following the region, around the Duero and life-giving rivers. its tributaries. With the triumph of imperial armed might, the The region owes much of its pax romana brought civilisation wealth of colour to the typically and progress, with the continental climate of Castilla y appearance of roads and Leon: long, hard winters bridges, baths and sewers, contrasting with moderately aqueducts and new townships. warm summers. The deep The arrival of the Christian valleys pass from leafy green to Visigoths brought a new gold with the change of element to the scenery as they seasons, perpetually shielded by built the first churches ever to hills on whose crests old castles appear on the vast Castilian watch over the passage of man horizons. and time. Successive waves of Arab invasion left the banks of the Duero impoverished and depopulated. But the valley survived, and from the ninth century on, new cities like Zamora and Burgos began to appear. In the next century, the imperious will of Count Fernán González inspired a new collective enterprise which would eventually come to be known as Castile. This was the 3 But all the progress and well- being achieved in preceding centuries were gradually lost as the foundations of the empire “on which the sun never set“ began to crumble. This marked the onset of a process of Casa de las Conchas. Salamanca emigration in search of new opportunities which was sustained practically until the age of the Reconquest, which present day. acquired renewed vigour with the final union of the kingdoms With the return of democratic of Castile and Leon in 1230. In coexistence in this century, the this way, the most powerful of year 1983 saw the promulgation the Peninsula’s kingdoms of a Statute of Autonomy gradually forged its own culture whereby Castilla y Leon was and peculiar identity. recognised as a territorial entity, the largest in Europe as we have said, with a population of Leon was the scene of the first 2,484,603 according to the last popular and democratic Cortes census. to be assembled in the West. Valladolid witnessed the The Region comprises nine marriage of the Catholic provinces: Avila, Burgos, Leon, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Monarchs Isabella and Soria, Valladolid and Zamora – Ferdinand, architects of Spain’s all capitals and towns with their accession to nationhood. This own peculiarities but bound was a time of limitless wealth, together by a common past carried from the New World by replete with history and the carvels that flew the tradition. Art, culture and Spanish flag on every corner of tourist attraction are the three the known seas. facets that define the 4 SPIRIT OF THE REGION If the Region is outsized geographically, it is no less so in terms of its historic and cultural monuments. Littered with Roman remains, which continue to come to light today, Castilla y Leon is and was an outstanding part of that highway of Christian devotion which follows the Arms of the Autonomous Region Milky Way to the sepulchre of of Castilla y Leon the Apostle St. James in Compostela – or, as the ancients had it, to finis terrae, the place fascinating personality of where known land came Castilla y Leon – a land of to an end. legend which has once again assumed responsibility for its Mediaeval Spain, ever attentive own destiny. to the welfare of pilgrims, undertook tremendous works of engineering, repairing roads and building bridges, hospitals and inns, all of which provided enormous impetus for trade and racial intercourse. And of course Castle of Peñafiel, Valladolid it raised marvellous churches visitor is regaled with a set of which still stand as living proof stained-glass windows that of the timelessness of the produce a magical sensation of religious experience. standing in the very heart of the light. And then the cathedral of Along the road to St. James Burgos, a work of filigreed there sprang up veritable masonry, boasts an ornamental miracles of Romanesque art, like wealth reminiscent of the church of San Martin de Renaissance aesthetics. Frómista, that of San Isidoro in Leon and the curious cloister of The next stylistic advance Santo Domingo de Silos. Or produced creations based on an again there is the string of evolved form of Gothic. country churches spanning the Examples of the Isabelline style north of the province of are the San Gregorio school in Palencia, which make this an Valladolid or the Carthusian area of first-class artistic and Monastery of Miraflores in tourist interest. Burgos, whose beauty stretches the limits of human imagination. The apogee of Gothic belongs to These places preserve a strong the age of imperial expansion tradition of Castilian when Castilla y Leon was architecture with Arabic synonymous with Spain and vice traces – the monastery versa. The finest examples of this of Santa Clara in Tordesillas, the school can be seen in the Casa de las Conchas in cathedrals of Leon and Burgos. Salamanca, and countless In the sober Leonese temple, a fortresses the pride structure of unobtrusive angles of which is the ever-vibrant and cleanly-defined corners, the Alcázar of Segovia. Turégano. Segovia Collegiate Church of Santa Maria. Aranda de Duero, Burgos Santa María la Mayor. Zamora The influence of the Italian culture. The regional spirit is Renaissance came to us in the embodied by an impressive form of Plateresque, a tendency artistic and cultural legacy to that is particularly marked in the which new names and new Salamanca University building works are constantly being and the convent of San Marcos added. The aesthetic influence in Leon.