Handpicked experience · Madrid
Madrid, Spain
Two cities that answer opposite questions: one still living inside a complete medieval wall on a cold granite plateau, the other carved into lace because its stone came out of the ground soft.
Gaze upon centuries-old cathedrals,
Discover the 6th century fortified city of Avila that is the epitome of old Spain
Marvel at the beautiful architecture of Plaza Mayor in Salamanca
Book with The Trip Club and journey back through the historical past of Spain on this guided walking tour
A walled town where the enclosure is still the edge of daily life
Views from the rampart over rooftops on one side and open country on the other
The birthplace of one of Spain's most consequential religious reformers
Façades worked to a depth that stone rarely allows
An arcaded eighteenth-century square that turns gold late in the day
Centuries of doctoral inscriptions left on university walls
A long day tour north-west of Madrid to Ávila and Salamanca, two cities that could hardly be less alike: one closed inside a wall it never grew out of, the other built around a university and carved like furniture.
The circuit around Ávila is not a fragment kept for visitors. It runs unbroken for about two and a half kilometres with dozens of towers, and the old town is still the part inside it — houses, shops, streets and all. Walk the top and you are looking down into the working town on one side and open country on the other.
It stands higher than any other provincial capital in Spain, on a granite plateau, and you feel that immediately. The wind here is not the wind in Madrid. Even in summer the evenings turn sharp, and in winter it is genuinely cold in a way visitors coming up from the capital tend not to plan for.
Teresa was born in Ávila in 1515, entered a Carmelite convent in the city, and spent her later life travelling Spain founding houses under a stricter rule, arguing with authorities and writing about it in prose so direct that it is still read as literature rather than devotion.
She is the reason the city carries so many convents, and the reason a place this small has a disproportionate weight in Spanish religious history.
The city is built of a sandstone that comes out of the ground soft enough to work like timber and hardens once it is exposed to air. That single property explains the look of the place: façades carved into lace-fine detail because carving was, for a while, easy.
It also gives the city its colour. Late in the day the stone goes deep gold, and the main square — a closed, arcaded rectangle laid out in the eighteenth century — is where everyone ends up to watch it happen.
On old university walls you will see looping ochre-red inscriptions. These were painted by newly minted doctors to record their achievement, traditionally using bull's blood mixed with oil, and they have been left in place for centuries.
The other student ritual is a carved frog perched on a skull, somewhere on the great sculpted façade of the university. Finding it unaided is supposed to bring luck in examinations, and the crowd standing about staring upward is a permanent feature of the street.
Both cities are walked rather than driven, and both involve slopes and old paving. Ávila's wall walk is exposed on top with steep stairs at the access points. Distances by road are long, so the day starts early and returns late, and if the itinerary reaches Salamanca in the late afternoon you get the stone at its best.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Both lie north-west of the capital at some distance, which is why this runs as a long day with an early start and a late return.
It is complete rather than fragmentary, and the old town still sits inside it, so the wall functions as the boundary of a living town.
It stands higher than any other provincial capital in Spain, on an exposed granite plateau, and the wind is nothing like Madrid's.
A nun born here in 1515 who reformed her order, founded houses across Spain and wrote prose still read for its plainness and force.
Its sandstone is soft when quarried and hardens in the open air, so fine carving was practical in a way it was not elsewhere.
The same stone takes on a deep gold tone in late afternoon light, which is when the main square is at its best.
Records painted by newly qualified doctors of the university, traditionally in bull's blood mixed with oil, and left in place ever since.
A small carved frog sits on a skull among the university's sculpted façade, and finding it without help is said to bring luck in exams.