CASTILLOS EN GREDOS
During the end of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century, some Castilian nobles gained much power from very weak kings and tried to consolidate it by means of an important amount of magnificent castles in a large part of the territories of the Kingdom of Castile.
On this trip we propose you to visit four of these castles, located in a small environment of the Sierra de Gredos, which belonged to important characters such as Álvaro de Luna, the house of Medinaceli or Beltrán de la Cueva: La Adrada castles, Mombeltrán, Arenas de San Pedro and Aunospese. All are in good condition and are magnificent examples of castle-palace of the last Gothic and the first Renaissance.
Total travel of the trip 123 kms.
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Mapa del viaje
Guía del viaje
Día 1
Built in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century around a Gothic church of the mid-thirteenth century, which only conserve the apse and the remains of the nave, and on the remains of a former Templar fortification, consists of a wall exterior with circular cubes and an interior enclosure where the church is located, a Renaissance building of two floors, from the sixteenth century, with a beautiful patio, in addition to the well and subterranean passageways lintelled and vaulted.
The building shows typical characteristics of both military strength and palatial residence, as was common in the stately castles of the fifteenth century. The castle is built in granite and has a square floor of 51 meters on each side, with four circular towers of about 16 meters high, one at each corner, some crenellations and a rectangular keep, four floors, next to the entrance main, 26 meters high. The parade ground was surrounded by various dependencies: stables, warehouses, kitchens, rooms of the servants; the upper floor was intended as a residence for the nobility. It has doors and windows with a pointed arch, a semicircular arch and a recess, as well as machicolations.
Día 2
Built by Beltrán de la Cueva between 1462 and 1474, it is attributed to the architect Juan Guas, although the access doorway was built in the 16th century when the moat and the drawbridge were eliminated. Located on a hill in which there was already a previous fortress, it consists of two square-shaped enclosures with circular cubes in the corners. The interior, in a very bad state, conserves a central arcaded patio around which the chapel and the rooms of residence and servants were located. The towers are vaulted and in the homage there were removable wooden floors, to prevent the assailants from entering the interior of the tower.
Also called Manqueospese castle, originating in a previous fortress, the eleventh or twelfth century, occupied by knights of Avila and completely renovated in the fifteenth century sits on a few rocks, adopting the shapes of the rocks. The fortress consists of two defensive enclosures, of which the exterior consists of a beautiful Renaissance door located between two towers, while in the interior, of much greater height, the main dependencies of the castle are concentrated: court of arms, stables, tower of the tribute, a wing that contained halls and kitchens, … All marinated with a beautiful legend of miserable loves that also relates the castle with the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.