Loop from Madrid

01 Church

Toledo Cathedral

Catedral de Toledo

Begun in 1226 under Ferdinand III, this Gothic cathedral received its last vaults in 1493, in the time of the Catholic Monarchs. In the triforium of the main chapel, look for interlaced arches in the Caliphal spirit, a reminder of the great mosque that once occupied the site. Its white stone comes from Olihuelas, near Olías del Rey.

02 Abbey

Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes

Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes

Look at the chains of Christian captives freed in Granada, hanging on the outer walls of the Franciscan friary. Isabella the Catholic wished to be buried here, in memory of the victory at Toro and the birth of her son. Over the crossing, Juan Guas raised an octagonal lantern on squinches, Isabelline Gothic tinged with Mudéjar.

03 UNESCO

El Escorial

Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial

From the road, you can glimpse on Mount Abantos the granite mass that Philip II had built from 1563 to 1584. Palace, basilica, royal pantheon, library and monastery all fit within a rectangle of bare lines, designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and then Juan de Herrera. This austerity founded the Herrerian style.

04 Castle

Walls of Ávila

Muralla de Ávila

Let your eye follow the 87 towers punctuating Ávila's Romanesque walls, which still fully enclose the old town. Its grey and black granite walls, 12 metres high, reuse stones taken from a Roman necropolis. At the Alcázar gate, a bridge linking two massive towers has no equivalent among Europe's ramparts.

05 Monument

Plaza Mayor, Salamanca

Plaza Mayor de Salamanca

Admire the golden Villamayor stone cladding this Baroque square by Alberto de Churriguera, built from 1729 to 1756. Between the arches, carved medallions portray kings of Spain, but also Columbus, Cervantes and Unamuno. Unamuno thought it irregular yet harmonious, and the Café Novelty has enlivened it since 1905.

06 Monument

New Cathedral of Salamanca

Catedral Nueva de Salamanca

Built from 1513 to 1733 of Villamayor stone, this cathedral leans against the Old Cathedral, which it ended up sparing. Follow the line of its bell tower: shaken by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, it was bound with eight chains, encased in stone, and still leans. Every 31 October, the Mariquelo tradition recalls that tremor.

07 Monument

Fachada de la Universidad de Salamanca

Dated 1529, this façade is considered the high point of Spanish Plateresque. Pick out the Catholic Monarchs in a medallion, beneath a Greek inscription, then Charles V portrayed as a Roman emperor. Students search it for the little frog perched on a skull, which tradition says brings success in exams.

08 Monument

Zamora Cathedral

Catedral de Zamora

Consecrated in 1174, Zamora Cathedral is the oldest of the eleven in Castile and León. Above its drum pierced by 16 windows, the ribbed dome is clad in Byzantine-inspired stone scales and has become the symbol of the city. Walk around the building and watch the light glide over these scales.

09 Castle

Castle of Zamora

Castillo de Zamora

A deep moat, almost intact, encloses the diamond-shaped plan of the castle of Zamora, attributed by historians to Ferdinand I of León. Reopened in 2009, it houses a space devoted to the Zamora-born sculptor Baltasar Lobo, between walls more than two metres thick. Look on its stones for some of the 600 masons' marks recorded in the middle enclosure.

10 Castle

La Mota Castle

Castillo de La Mota

On its mound above Medina del Campo, La Mota raises walls of reddish brick where stone appears only for the loopholes and coats of arms. Walk along the artillery barrier commissioned by the Catholic Monarchs, whose shield still crowns the main gate. Later a state prison, the fortress saw Cesare Borgia escape from it.

11 Castle

Castillo de Coca

Begun in 1453 for the Fonseca family, the castle of Coca stands at the edge of the plain, not on a height, above a bend in the Voltoya. Step back to see the play of the Mudéjar brickwork, whose mortar joints trace geometric patterns right up to the battlements. A deep, wide moat still encircles the whole.

12 Monument

Aqueduct of Segovia

Acueducto de Segovia

Built by the Romans in the early 2nd century, the aqueduct supplied Segovia with water until 1973. Stand beneath the arches in the Plaza del Azoguejo, where the double arcade reaches its highest point at 28 metres, and observe the granite blocks held together without any mortar. In all, 167 arches follow one another into the heart of the city.

13 Museum

Alcázar of Segovia

Alcázar de Segovia

Perched on a spur above the Eresma valley, the Alcázar has been a fortress, a palace of the kings of Castile, a state prison and an artillery college. Philip II crowned it with slate roofs, and its appearance is said to be the most European of all Spanish castles. Take in its silhouette from the path that runs down to the river at the foot of the rock.

14 Village

Pedraza, Segovia

Pedraza

Enter Pedraza through its only gate, whose black poplar doors were shut every night. The castle, on the edge of a sheer drop, held the sons of Francis I for two years, hostages of Charles V until 1530. Near the gate, the old prison housed in a watchtower has become a museum.

15 Village

Sepúlveda, Segovia

Sepúlveda

Resettled in 940 by Fernán González, Count of Castile, Sepúlveda received from him a fuero later extended to Zaragoza and Teruel. In its lanes, look for the façade of the Casa del Moro, which illustrates the legend of the count facing a Muslim alcalde. The interpretation centre for the Hoces del Río Duratón is also here.