Castilla y Leon

Scorched red plains burn beneath the heat, endless wheat fields stretch to distant horizons, straight roads disappear to nothing: the sense of space is awesome, almost ghostly. The autonomous region of Castile and Leon sits on the north meseta, one of two huge plateaus that form the great central tableland of Spain, with Madrid at its centre. The sluggish green Duero River cuts across it east to west, the only incision in a landscape void of shade and shape. Remotely dotted over this vast area are towns steeped in the history of the region. From the road you would never guess; few people visit Castile and Leon for the scenery.

The fusion of these two kingdoms formed the foundation of modern Spain. Warriors from the region played a key role in the Reconquest when Alfonso VI of Leon and El Cid took Toledo in 1085. The rows of castles built along the Duero and in a second line of defence at Avila, Segovia and Salamanca were crucial in the consolidation of Christian power. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1479 enlarged the power base further, and signalled the beginning of the centralized Spain we know today.

The wealth of the dynasties that controlled this huge area is evident in the richly embellished university town of Salamanca, with its Renaissance and medieval architecture, in the museums of Valladolid, and in the defences of Zamora, Avila and Leon Throughout the Middle Ages, pilgrims en route for Santiago de Compostela passed through the north of the region, and magnificent Gothic cathedrals at Burgos and Leon along with a trail of Romanesque churches, remain as outstanding monuments to the power of the shrine.