Arévalo

Leave Madrid, heading northwest on the A6 freeway until it turns into NVI and continue north towards Zamora. After a few kilometers, you pass Arevalo, one of the oldest towns in Castile; where, in a 14th-century castle, Isabella spent her early years. She was born in nearby Madrigal de Las Altas Torres, whose lovely Plaza de la Villa is typical of Spain and is dominated by the Church of Saint Martin’s two Mudéjar towers. The Convent of Saint Francis was founded by the saint himself in 1214. If church architecture is your interest, you should see the beautiful Our Lady of the Lugareta Nunnery, 2 kilometers south of town. It constitutes one of the major Romanesque structures in Spain.