| 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 |
