Spain is a country of afternoon siesta, temperamental women, a hot climate and lots of attractions.
People come here not only to carnivals and soak up the sun, but also to enrich themselves culturally by visiting historically significant places.
Cathedrals, ancient churches in the mountains, fortified military forts with a thousand-year history - there are a lot of such places and one life may not be enough to inspect all. Therefore, we have chosen the 10 most famous places in Spain, which are worth taking note if you plan to visit this beautiful country.
10. Fortress Vila Velha (Tossa de Mar)
The city of Tosa de Mar, located on a small peninsula of the Costa Bravo, is a favorite destination for tourists who prefer medieval beauty.
Fortress Vila Velha, which is the visiting card of the island, was built in the XII century (although its appearance has survived to the present day of the XIV century) and served as a fort protecting the Catalans from the raids of North African pirates.
The hundreds of years that have passed since then have been surprisingly mild to her: battlements, four watchtowers, stone loopholes - all this is very well preserved.
Inside the fortress, you will find narrow streets saturated with antiquity, a municipal museum in the former house of the governor of the island, and much more.
Visitors to Tosa de Mar claim that they simply do not want to return to large cities from this silence.
9. Alcazar of Segovia
Fortress Alcazar It was built during the reign of Arabs in Spain in the VIII-IX centuries and originally served as a fort. In the future, it was repeatedly used for other purposes: it was a state prison, a royal palace, and even an artillery academy.
Due to its location (it is built on a rock), the fortress is one of the most recognizable places in the country, which is often printed on advertising booklets. You can come here at any time of the year: all 11 halls are always open to visitors.
Interesting fact: in addition to the Royal Hall, the arms hall or the throne hall, there is also the Cord Hall and the Cones Hall. In the first, the walls are decorated with French ropes, and the ceiling of the second - with figures of handmade cones in the amount of 392 pieces.
8. Prado Museum (Madrid)
This museum of fine art was founded in 1819 and is now one of the twenty most popular in the world.
About 2.7 million tourists visit it annually, who come to see not only the paintings, but also the building itself, which is a monument of late classicism.
In local galleries can be found paintings of Raphael, Van Dyck, Caravaggio, Botticelli and many others. Periodically, the paintings are exported for display in other countries: for example, in 2011 most of the collection Prado Museum could be seen in the Hermitage.
7. Park Guell (Barcelona)
Count Eusebio Guell conceived the construction of the park at the end of the XVIII century, hiring the famous Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi to implement the idea. Building popular Park Guell lasted for 4 years from 1900 to 1904, although subsequently the building was repeatedly modernized.
On an area of 17.18 hectares is located not only an extensive park area, but also residential areas with bizarre-shaped houses. This becomes noticeable immediately at the entrance, where there are two unusual houses.
Until 2013, it was possible to walk in the park for free, but now you will have to pay about 10 euros for this (a children's entrance ticket is about a third cheaper). Please note that buying a pass is more profitable on the official website of Guell, as it costs more at the box office.
6. The Atonement Temple of the Holy Family (Barcelona)
The Atonement Temple of the Holy Family (this is exactly what the place is called) is the most large-scale project of Antonio Gaudi, even surpassing the Park Guell.
The most amazing thing is that the temple began to be built in 1882, but has not yet been completed. According to the plan, all work should be completed only in 2026, which makes Sagrada one of the main "long-term construction projects."
This is due to the fact that the construction is not financed by local authorities or private investors, and the money is taken exclusively from donations from parishioners.
Interesting fact: in fact, the church is not a cathedral, but a temple. The Cathedral is the main temple of the city, and Sagrada has never been. The only cathedral in Barcelona is St. Eulalia, which began to be built 600 years earlier.
5. Alcazar of Toledo
To appreciate the grandeur of this 15th-century structure, you will have to travel to the province of Guadalajara in central Spain.
In the years when the Toledo Alcazar It was used for its intended purpose, it was an almost impregnable fortress that reliably defended the inhabitants of the city. It is noteworthy that the first fort at this place was built by the ancient Romans.
Over its long history, the fortification was repeatedly destroyed and suffered from fires, but it was restored every time. The last time this happened after the civil war at the beginning of the last century, during which the castle was under siege from July 22 to September 27, 1936.
4. Mount Montserrat (Barcelona)
The name meaning “cut” or “jagged” was given for a reason: bald rocks really look bizarre. Where Catalonia is now, millions of years ago there was a sea whose bottom, due to tectonic shifts, turned into a mountain range.
The descent of the glacier caused the appearance of the Pyrenees, and Montserrat Mountain broke away from the general mountain "structure" and settled separately.
In addition to the greatness of the mountain itself, 1236 meters high and 10 km long, there is a monastery serving as a mecca for Catholics from around the world. It was built in 1025 at an altitude of 725 meters above sea level.
3. Royal Palace (Madrid)
In this place in the Middle Ages was a Moorish fort, later - Alcazar of Habsburg, which was destroyed by fire in 1734.
Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV, wanted to have a castle in Madrid, not inferior to Versailles, and in 1764, his grandfather founded as a gift Royal Palace.
Chic baroque design is the merit of the wife of Philip, who was enthusiastic about Italian architecture. At her insistence, Filippo Juvarra was invited to begin construction, and after his death, another Italian, Giovanni Sacchetti, continued the business.
The true masters also engaged in the interior decoration: among other frescoes, Caravaggio and Francisco Goya painted.
2. Walls of Avila
Avila, the capital of the province of the same name, is located at an altitude of 1,128 meters above sea level, making it the highest provincial capital in Spain.
Main attraction - serfs walls 2516 meters long, encircling the historic center. They began to be built back in the 11th century and to our time they have been preserved remarkably well, including 88 towers around the perimeter.
In addition, here you can visit the Avil Cathedral of the XI century, several fortified palaces of the XV century, as well as many ancient churches.
1. Plaza Mayor (Madrid)
This square, which caused the Habsburg era (the ruling dynasty from the XIV century), is considered by many to be the main one in the capital.
The famous playwright Lope de Vega, who lived in the XV-XVI century, once called her "the navel of Spain", emphasizing greatness and status. You can’t just go and visit Madrid without walking around Plaza Mayor.