Parador - parapromotions- spain - quality accommodation

PARADORES LEON CASTILE SPAIN.

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Leon region - Spain - Parador

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or below for the Paradors

Avila	Benavente	Cervera de Pisuerga	Ciudad Rodrigo	Gredos	La Granja	Leon	Lerma
Puebla de Sanabria	Salamanca	Segovia	Soria	Tordesillas	Villafranca del Bierzo		Zamora

PARADOR ACCOMMODATION IN CASTILE LEON

Click on the name of the Parador for more information and, to make a booking

OVERVIEW	IMAGE	LOCATION	BEDS
Parador de Avila Luxury 4 star hotel within the walls of Avila. This Parador is on the site of the former 16th Century "Piedras Albas" Palace and backs onto the city walls.		Avila	116
Parador de Benavente Luxury 4 star hotel in a restored 12th Century Castle. The Parador has been built on the original site of the Castle built by King Fernando II of Leon.		Benavente	73
Parador de Villafranca del Bierzo 3 star Parador hotel situated in a vine covered country Manor House. This town was an important stop over on the pilgrim Way to Santiago.		Villafranca del Bierzo	78
Parador de La Granja A former Royal house, converted to a superb four star Parador hotel, just 55 minutes away from Madrid		La Granja de San Ildefonso	254
Parador de Cervera de Pisuerga 3 star Parador built in the style of a five story hunting lodge. This hotel overlooks the waters of the Ruesga Reservoir in the foothills of the Picos de Europa.		Cervera de Pisuerga	160
Parador de Ciudad Rodrigo Luxury 4 star Parador hotel sitauted in a 14th Century ivy covered Castle.		Ciudad Rodrigo	70
Parador de Gredos Built in 1928 by the Spanish government as the first Parador. This hotel has views of the mountains and River Valley.		Gredos	148
Parador de Leon Luxury 5 star Parador using a Monastery, originally founded in the 12th Century to provide 'lodging for the poor of Christ' making their pilgrimage to Santiago.		Leon	452
Parador de Lerma This Parador was built in successive phases between 1601 and 1617, on the site of a 15th Century Castle, according to the plans of architect Francisco de Mora.		Lerma	133
Parador de Puebla de Sanabria This 3 star Parador hotel was recently built to encourage tourism in one of the most beautiful areas of the region.		Puebla de Sanabria	83
Parador de Salamanca This Parador is located on the left bank of the River Tormes, on a hill opposite the centre of the old town of Salamanca.		Salamanca	204
Parador de Segovia Luxury 4 star Parador with panoramic views over Segovia. This hotel is three kilometers from the centre of Segovia which has been classified as a World Heritage Site.		Segovia	213
Parador de Soria Modern 4 star hotel in the Parador group with panoramic views over the town and valley.		Soria	128
Parador de Tordesillas A typical Castilian Manor House converted to a 4 star Parador hotel. This ancestral home is located in the historical Castilian town of Tordesillas.		Tordesillas	136
Parador de Zamora Luxury 4 star Parador hotel in a 15th Century Renaissance Palace. In 1459 the Count of Alba and Aliste built his Palace here in the ruins of an Arab "Alcazaba" (fortress).		Zamora	99

Castile and Leon (Castilla y Leon) is the heartland of Spain - historically, aesthetically and culturally - and is the region that shaped the nation's history. Its lofty central plains with open skies was frontier land, where castles and walled towns marked the slow push south of Christian forces in their struggle against the Moors. Spain's legendary hero, El Cid, was born here and was instrumental in the expulsion of the Moors from the region.

Castile's vernacular language emerged as the literary language of the nation, and epic poems were penned to celebrate Spain's heroes, like El Cid. The age of discovery brought forth soldiers and priests with the banner of the Castle and the Lion to create a Spanish empire overseas. Castilla y Leon is a mystical land where there are as many churches as there are fortified ramparts. "Castile," the famous sixteenth century mystic Saint Teresa of Avila used to say, "is where you are closer to God." Teresa, quintessentially Castilian, combined mysticism with sound common sense, and indeed the men and women of Castile and León have been shaped by harsh winters and seeringly hot dry summers into people of forbearance and fortitude that are known for their austerity and innate sense of pride. Castilian villages of stone and wood with porticoed central squares are equally austere but nevertheless enchanting.

Once made up of several kingdoms, Castile and Leon today forms the largest autonomous region, composed of nine provinces: Avila, Burgos, Leon, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid, and Zamora. Each has its own marked identity but all share an extremely rich heritage. The capitals of all nine provinces were well established cities in the early Middle Ages and each boasts a cathedral and scores of monasteries and convents from the past. The pilgrims' route to Santiago de Compostela, which passed through the provinces of Burgos, Palencia and Leon, introduced Romanesque and then Gothic architecture and art forms into the region, and a magnificent cultural legacy emerged that combined new aesthetic ideas with the region's inherent spirituality.

Gastronomy
In gastronomy, Castile and León is renowned for its baby lamb and suckling pig, its superb chorizo sausage, hearty bean stews and garlic soup. The region is also a premiere producer of splendid wines that come from the Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Toro wine regions.

Attractions
Castile and Leon stands on a high plateau, with mountain ranges to the north that shield it from the coast. To the east the Iberian mountains separates the region from the basin of the Ebro River, and to the south the Gredos and Guadarrama ranges sever the plateau into two, separating Castile and Leon from Madrid and Castile - La Mancha. And although many imagine Castilla y Leon as a vast dry plain in which wheatfields cover the land, the region is surprisingly mountainous, dotted with lakes, often covered with forest land, and drained by the majestic Duero River that meanders west through the region to Portugal.

Text courtesy of the Tourist Office of Spain