Avila -The Highest Medieval and The Highest Capital City in Spain

Ávila is one of provinces that make the self-governing society of León and Castile. The capital of the province has the same name – Ávila and it is one of the places that you have to visit in Spain. Sometimes it is called Ávila de los Caballeros del Rey.

This city is mostly a mountainous city that lies at an altitude of 1130 meters above sea level. It has about 59,000 inhabitants and it is the highest capital city in Spain.

The architecture of this city is mainly medieval:

At the entrance to the city, you will notice a huge wall with several towers that are amazingly preserved. Moreover, narrow cobbled streets within Ávila complement the medieval atmosphere. The Fortress dates even before pre-Roman time. Vettones were the founders of Ávila.

They built a fortress in the 5th century BC and gave it the name Obila (which in their language also means “Fortress”). Saint Secundus was a Christian missionary who brought Christianity to the city; Avila is known to be in the list of those primary cities that greeted Christianity in Spain.

A possession of Romans, Spaniards and Arabs:

Throughout history, this city was overpowered by the Romans and Visigoths and later by the Arabs too. Ávila was the seat of some very famous Spanish kings of their times. During that period the city made great progress and the church of Don Diego del Aguila was built as well.

However, most of the churches in this city were built before the 16th century. A cathedral built by Goths is part of the fortress and it is said to have been constructed during the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. The churches of San Segundo San Vicente and San Pedro date from the twelfth century and they were built in the Romanesque style.

Ávila is an open-air museum 11 km from Madrid:

The city is very preserved. Inside Avila there are shopping areas and a large number of cafés and souvenir shops. Due to the height of the place where the city lies, Avila is very nice during the summer. However, during the long and harsh winter with lots of snow, it is not a very attractive place to visit. In addition, there is a very great domestic cuisine offered by the city of Ávila, make sure not to miss the true specialty of this city.