Ávila is a medieval town, surrounded by walls constructed in the 11th and 12th century (2500m, 88 towers, 9 entrances) that are still complete nowadays. Home of Santa Teresa, Ávila was and still is a very religious city, with a grand Gothic Cathedral. Charming squares and beautiful quiet pedestrian streets for a very pleasant walk around this old historic town.

Other historic towns in the region: in the North, Segovia and Salamanca; in the South, Trujillo and Cáceres. And, of course, Madrid.

About the Gredos
The Sierra de Gredos mountain range lies in central Spain within easy reach of Madrid, and much of it has a Regional Park status. This majestic stretch of mountains lying across the centre of Spain like a titanic rampart reaches its highest point at the Pico Almanzor (2,592m/7,776 ft).
Until 1834 only shepherds moving their flocks had reached some of the remote and inaccessible alpine valleys of these mountains. At the beginning of the XXth century, in 1905, the Sierra de Gredos became of interest when King Alphonso XIII created the Gredos hunting reserve, to protect the Capra Pyrenaica Victoriae - the wild Spanish ibex. Only a few wild goats were left, but now the Sierra de Gredos has one of the largest remaining populations. Alphonso XIII constructed byways to reach the highest peaks of the Gredos and its main glacialcirque and lagoon (Laguna Grande).
The absence of population in the region of Gredos has contributed in keeping the nature of Gredos intact until the present. The villages were settled in the valleys and they still hold their uniqueness in their architecture and traditions.
Remains of some prehistoric settlements from the Neolithic period were found at El Raso, near Candeleda in the southern part of the Gredos. The presence of humans in the area is also recorded in the IVth century BC in remains of the "Cultura de los Verracos", sculptures in granite of, it is presumed, bulls (such as the Toros de Guisando).
The Romans did not settle in the Gredos. They built mountain passes through the Sierra de Gredos, and we can still see the Roman roads at the Puerto del Pico, Tornavacas and the Puerto de Chía - Fosa del Alberche. These roads built in the IInd century BC allowed the movement of troops and of tools produced in the iron foundries of Arenas de San Pedro, Mombeltrán and Candeleda.
The scarcity of Arabic traces indicates that the Arab settlements in the Gredos were rather non-existent. Some Berbers, shepherds of the Atlas, crossed these mountains and left some settlements where they adopted the life of the Veton shepherds. Some authors mention the presence of the Arab
During the Arab occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, the Christian kings were reorganised in the northern part of the Peninsula (IX and X centuries). Castilla was born as the eastern border of the kingdom of León. The king of León built the castles of Castilla and named the counts to govern them. Then Castilla became an independent province and, in 1033, it became a Christian kingdom with the agreement of the kings of León and Navarra. In those times the borders with the Arab Empire were in the region of the Tajo and the Duero rivers, where many battles took place, with the Sierra de Gredos as a minor geographical barrier.
The first Castilian king, Fernando I, initiated the Reconquista against the Moors. The Gredos mountain passes were often crossed by the Christian troops in their attempts to conquer the main Arab settlements. The king of Castilla dedicated a great effort to repopulate the conquered provinces with Christian settlers. Some towns such as Avila, Segovia, Plasencia or Béjar enjoyed special royal privileges for their victories in the fights of the Reconquista.
In 1072, the kingdoms of Castilla and León were reunited, by Alfonso VI, and there was a new boost of the Reconquista. An Avilan noble, D. Raimundo de Borgoña, leading an Avilan army, crossed the Gredos, and occupied the strategic riverbanks of the Tajo, cutting the access to Toledo. In 1085 Alfonso VI won Toledo, setting the border of Castilla y León south of the Gredos at the Tajo river.
In the XIVth century the Gredos region was fully colonised. Many Jews populated the southern part of the Gredos, after the Reconquista. The rich agriculture and the artisan jobs in the hands of the Jews were very developed, especially in the province of Plasencia, where they had their main settlements in the Valle del Jerte and Tornavacas - and further Northwest was the large Jewish settlement of Hervás. The Castillian nobles set their eyes on this developing land and by the XVth century they had control of the whole territory.
From the time of the kingdom of the Catholic kings onwards, the political history of Gredos is subject to the general history of Spain.
In medieval times, the livestock was a very important part of the economy of Castilla. The geographical aspects of Castilla y León - allowing the migration of the sheep from winter to summer pastures - the Reconquista and the repopulation of this region made possible a sustainable growth, based on the very selective breeding of the merino sheep. The migration of the livestock - called in Spanish "Trashumancia" - and the network of cattle paths established in those medieval times show the importance of this unique way of living.