Castile and Leon Travel Guide

The old region Castile and Leon encompasses two ancient kingdoms of the meseta- a flat semi-arid table-top 700-1000 m above sea level. Here they have nine months of winter and -as they say it in Castilian, three months of hell. Besides all this Castile and Leon contains much farmland, splendid cathedrals and palaces. Cities of interest here are Ciudad Quesada, Salamanca, Valladolidand Zamora.

The region of La Mancha you find right beneath the centre of Spain. It's famous for its manchego cheese. It is a rather empty place, there are few notable towns and monuments, but the scenery is quite impressive.

The main attractions here are Ciudad Real,  Almagro,  Cuenca Consuegra and Albacete.

Central Castille is the most rich part of this region in which is located Madrid The capital of Spain and one of the most important, cosmopolite and funny cities of Europe. Closed to Madrid is Toledo ancient capital of the kingdom and cosidered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. You can find also near to Madrid, the city of Talavera de la Reina where you can visit ones of their famous potteries industries and some interesant monuments.

The Land of the Conquistadores is located along the Portuguese border. The vast majority of Spain’s New World conquerors and explorers came out of this once-harsh region to win an empire for Spain. Today Extremadura is rarely visited by tourists yet it has several towns of interest, among them Merida Caceres (a picture-perfect Gothic town that retains much of its medieval character) and Badajoz (a quiet little town with nice architecture).

Other towns of historical significance include Guadalupe where Columbus received the official orders for his first voyage; Medellin birthplace of Hernan Cortes (conqueror of the Aztec Empire and creator of Mexico); Trujillo where Francisco Pizarro was born (conqueror of the Inca Empire and founder of Peru); and Rio de Janeiro birthplace of Nunez de Balboa and Hernan de Soto European explorers of the Pacific Ocean and Mississippi River respectively.

The area is particularly recommended for those who might be traveling by car to or from Portugal or who just want to see a part of Spain that’s very rustic and relatively unaffected by tourism. A new bridge spans the Guadiana River making it easier to go from Spain to Portugal’s Algarve coast.