Welcome to Visita Castilla y León
Castile and Leon is the most extensive region in Spain and is filled with great historical routes that cross east/ west: Way of Santiago and north to the south: the Silver Route. The importance of Castile and Leon in the history of Spain is most relevant, since it was the center of power in the Iberian Peninsula during centuries.
Geographically it is nailed in the North plateau, having by limits the Iberian System, Central System and the Cantabrian Mountain range. It limits at north with Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and Basque Country, to the south with Extremadura, Madrid region and Castile-La Mancha, to the east with the Basque Country, La Rioja and Aragon, and to the west with Galicia and Portugal. Its 94,224 square Kilometers of land represents almost one fifth part of the Spanish territory. But although it is the Spanish region with more land, is also one of the regions less populated in Spain: 26 inhabitants by square Kilometer.
It is made up of nine provinces, Leon, Zamora, Salamanca, Burgos, Soria, Segovia, Avila, Valladolid and Palencia. The great central plain is crossed east/west by the Duero River and usually is operated by cereal crops and ovine cattle ranches; Mediterranean meadows in the Salmantine province are another natural zone full of oaks and cattle ranches of brave bulls. In the north side forests with beeches and Atlantic fauna abound.
The Castilian-leonese climate is continental, with warm and short summers and cold winters. The popular wisdom has known to reflect well this climate in the following proverb: "Nine months of winter and three of hell".
Many mountainous zones in the region have spectacular views and they are the ideal place to practice trekking and other mountain sports. Leon Mountains are part of the Galaic mass, where there are several lakes of glacier origin, like the one in Sanabria, Zamora, ideal place for canoeing and other aquatic sports. Las Medulas, another incredible place in the region of Bierzo in Leon, are a gigantic work of the Romans, who, to extract gold, removed million tons of land with hydrological techniques, leaving a moonlike landscape that now mixes the nature and the hand of man.
In "Arrives del Duero", border zone with Portugal, Salamanca and Zamora: Duero River has created deep cliffs where dams follow one another and the golden eagles and vultures nest. In this zone a Mediterranean microclimate allows orange and almond trees to grow. Picos de Europa, the Mountain range of Gredos, Monte Santiago, the Mountain range of La Demanda, the mountains of Urbión or the Mountain range of Ancares are mountainous zones that surprise lovers of fauna, nature, trekking and the environment. Beautiful lakes, leafy mountain ranges and rivers boxed by the erosion of their channels like Cliffs of the Duratón River and the ones of Lobos River and Yecla form places of incredible beauty and singularity.
Besides the autonomous region of Castile and Leon has an artistic historical buildings of great importance in which part of the history of Spain can be contemplated live. To admire its convents, monasteries, castles and walled cities is a pleasure for the visitor. This region also is the land of the cathedrals and eleven of these buildings are distributed by all their geography, being the one of Leon and the one from Burgos a sample of the excellence of the Spanish gothic architecture.
Castles are the most glorious remains of the historical past in this region, giving name to a part of it. Their locations are always spectacular, watching the landscape from the top, a great number of castles are scattered in the region. Nowadays there are almost 300 castles in all Castile and Leon.
History is present and very alive in all this immense territory. As a result of the Way of Santiago, the North zone of Palencia, for example, hoards one of the greater concentrations of Romanesque buildings of all Europe. One of its jewels is San Martín de Frómista. Romanesque is also the Basilica of San Isidoro, with important paintings in its crypt, and the monastery of San Marcos in the city of Leon, city and province crossed by the famous Way of Santiago.
The title of Patrimony of the Humanity belongs to three cities in Castile and Leon: Ávila, Salamanca and Segovia, as well as one of the more beautiful building of the Spanish Gothic style and only cathedral in the country declared "World Heritage" by UNESCO: the Cathedral of Burgos
