Castilla Y León Overview

Culture and grandeur pervade the province of Castilla y León. Spanish icons like the fairy-tale Alcázar and Roman aqueduct of Segovia, the Gothic cathedrals of Burgos and León, the Romanesque belfries along the Camino de Santiago, the sandstone of Salamanca, and the city walls of Ávila all belong to this ancient region. Well before Fernando of Aragón and Isabel of Castilla were joined in a world-shaking matrimony, Castilla was the political and military powerhouse of Spain. During the High Middle Ages, it emerged from obscurity to lead the Christian charge against Islam. Its nobles, enriched by the spoils of combat, made their success official: castellano became the dominant language of the nation. Castilla’s comrade in arms, León, though chagrined to be lumped with Castilla in a 1970s reorganization, shares many cultural similarities with its neighbor while bringing its own wealth of historical and natural beauty.

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