The most complete medieval walls in Europe — an intact 11th-century fortified city on the Castilian plateau, birthplace of Saint Teresa, and still enclosed by 2,516m of original wall you can walk on
Ávila is a city of 55,000 on the Meseta Central at 1,130m elevation — the highest provincial capital in Spain — 100km northwest of Madrid in Castile and León. Its medieval walls (UNESCO World Heritage 1985) are the best-preserved complete circuit of Romanesque city walls in the world: 2,516m of wall with 88 semi-circular towers and 9 gates, built between 1090 and 1099 under King Alfonso VI of Castile following the Reconquista, and walkable on a 1.3km section of the top ramparts. Ávila is also the birthplace of Santa Teresa de Ávila (1515–1582), the Carmelite mystic, religious reformer, and fi…
Ávila was the ancient Celtiberian settlement of Obila, then a Roman town, then part of the contested frontier between Christian and Moorish kingdoms during the Reconquista. After its reconquest in 1085 by Alfonso VI, the city was repopulated with Christians, Jews, and Mozarabs and the great circuit of walls built as a frontier fortress. The city's most significant figure is Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (1515–1582), born in the city to a converso family (Castilian Jews who converted to Christianity): as Santa Teresa of Ávila, she reformed the Carmelite Order, founded 17 convents across Spain, an…