Stop #18:
Ávila’s walls are still intact from the Middle Ages. Begun in 1090, shortly after the town was reclaimed from the Moors, the walls were completed in only nine years, but it took 1,900 men!
The walls have nine gates and 88 round towers. We took the advice of several travel books and crossed the Adaja Riverto see the walls from a great vantage point.
Ávila is most famous because of a saint named St. Teresa, who was born here in 1515. Many of the photos below are from her chapel and church. She was born into a noble family of Jewish origin, but later converted to Catholocism. We bought some of the yemas (candied egg yolks) made famous by St. Teresa for my mother. She’ll have to let us know how they were.
Thanks to Fodor’s Travel Guides, Trip Advisor, and Wikipedia for the great lessons that helped me to plan and summarize this trip.
