The city of Avila is the highest in Spain and invites you to think that it is the closest to heaven, thus reinforcing its mystical character. Santa Teresa de Jesús was born here and her mark is latent in each of the corners that make up her intramural space.
Its strategic location at the top of the hill that dominates from the plains of Avila to the mountains of the Central System led the Romans to found the first city. Since then all cultures have passed through Avila, but it is the Middle Ages that left its most universal symbol: the Romanesque wall. This magnificent ring of two and a half kilometers, eighty-seven towers and nine gates embraces a historic center of great value, which is why the entire complex has been declared a World Heritage Site.
The San Vicente Gate was the first to be built and maintains its military character, in front of the beautiful Basilica of San Vicente, one of the best exponents of the Romanesque and Gothic styles.
Crossing the arch of the wall means entering an urban labyrinth full of surprises until you reach the Cathedral Square. The imposing Romanesque temple with fortified traces is flanked by the Velada palace and the Valderrábanos palace and construction began in 1170, but after three centuries of construction it also presents French Gothic solutions. Its interior is a sublime succession of works of art, from the main altar to the stained glass windows, passing through the choir or the magnificent polychromes.
A serene stroll through the streets of the city leads to the porticoed Plaza del Mercado Chico, a place that once brought together the different guilds, and is today presided over by the noble building that houses the municipal offices.
Very close by is the Corral de las Campanas square, where the Guzmanes tower stands out, the current headquarters of the Provincial Council. This Renaissance building preserves a magnificent porticoed courtyard with a double gallery and in its basements a permanent collection on pre-Roman Veto culture is displayed.
Just a hundred meters away, the Plaza de la Santa is one of the spaces with the most mystical charge, where the convent of Santa Teresa supposedly built on the place where her birthplace was located. The basilica, the Convent of the Saint museum with an interesting collection of relics and the Crypt Museum of the Saint with one of the largest collections of the written work and objects of Saint Teresa, constitute one of the universal reference corners of the city.
Leaving intramuros through the Alcázar gate, the second oldest in the city, you reach the Plaza del Mercado Grande. At the opposite end of the wall, the Romanesque church of San Pedro speaks of the political importance that the city had in the past, since in its atrium the monarchs swore to respect the charters of Castile.
