Ávila - City Walls

Under the Visigoths, Ávila was one of the most important cities in the kingdom due to its proximity to the capital Toledo. From the 8th to the 11th centuries, Ávila was Moorish. The situation in the contested borderland between the Muslim and Christian worlds prevented prosperity, which only began in the 15th century when the fighting moved further south. The city experienced its heyday in the 16th century. The plague, the expulsion of the Moriscos (baptized Moors), and the emigration of many people to America caused Ávila's gradual decline, from which the city has only slowly recovered since the 19th century. Today the population is around 60,000.

The main landmark is the imposing "Walls of Ávila" (11th–14th centuries), begun in 1090, immediately after the Christian reconquest - on walls with a Roman, Visigothic, and Muslim past. The enclosed area is 31 hectares (77 acres) with a perimeter of 2,516 meters and 88 blocks of semicircular towers. It is possible to walk upon the walls for roughly half their circumference.