The holidays are over for most and many are starting to face the reality of returning to work. But that doesn’t mean we have to give up traveling during the little free time we have left between the weekend and the work day. There are hidden corners in our country that will sweeten this September. They are perfect places for short getaways.
Madrid: Complutum, Alacala de Henares
Just over 20 km from Madrid, in the beautiful meadows of the Henares River, is the Roman city of Complutum. It is a small piece of Roman history located in Alcalá de Henares, just 40 minutes from the capital.
The Archaeological Park of the Ciudad de Complutum is undoubtedly the most important visitable site in the Community of Madrid and the best option to discover first-hand what life was like in Roman times as well as to admire its collection of Roman murals.
It began in the 1st century BC and it was at the time of Emperor Augustus that an urban project was built following the deep knowledge that the Greeks and Romans had in urban planning: straight streets on ordered grids, porticoes, forums, public baths, private swimming pools, tasteful houses, refined and cosmopolitan citizens.
Complutum is the origin of the current Alcalá de Henares, a World Heritage City since 1998 and an Asset of Cultural Interest of the Community of Madrid since 1992.
Today, the visit to the Archaeological Park is free and allows you to visit many of these spaces and admire its constructions, mosaics and murals.
Catalonia: Friends
The Catalan writer Josep Pla said of this city that “it is not worth one visit, but a hundred visits, because its location offers the possibility of seeing one of the most beautiful and unforgettable landscapes in the country.” His words were not exaggerated. Pals welcomes you in the distance, just when you can see, on the horizon, the silhouette of its wall that embraces the city, where the church and the majestic Torre de les Hores stand, one of the few preserved remains of the old castle and transformed into the emblem of the city. All this just an hour and a half from Barcelona.
Walking through the city’s alleys takes you straight back to medieval times: you will find vaults, horseshoe arches, Romanesque and Gothic doors and windows and the clear trace of the ancient settlers captured in the stone where the anthropomorphic tombs were carved before the year 1000.
In Pals you can also do wine tourism. The Empordà is one of the oldest wine regions on the Mediterranean coast, with Empúries traditionally considered the gateway through which the Greeks introduced the cultivation of vines to the peninsula.
The Designation of Origin Empordà is a wine appellation that mainly includes lands located in the regions of Alt and Baix Empordà. Specifically in Pals, in addition to the traditional rice fields, there were also people who once dedicated themselves to the cultivation of vines.
Toledo: Consuegra
Romanesque, Castilian-Mudejar, Baroque are some of the artistic styles integrated into the monuments of Consuegra. Consuegra is a town located about 40 minutes from Toledo, famous for its windmills. Among the mills that make up the complex, one of them, the Sancho, is very special. It was the first to be restored, following the methods and materials of the time. It still preserves original pieces of great antiquity and, thanks to the way in which it was restored, it was the first declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), and currently the entire complex enjoys the same heritage recognition.
It is also worth visiting its castle, where one of the most important conflicts for the crown in the history of Spain broke out. In the mid-17th century, during the reign of Philip IV, Juan José of Austria, illegitimate son of the king, took control of the crown against his mother-in-law Mariana, imprisoning one of the last valid members of the Austrias, Fernando de Valenzuela. – in the fortress.
Burgos: Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, Silos
One of the jewels of religious Romanesque architecture. And just 50 minutes from Burgos. Silos is a small Castilian town with many tourist services and is a good place to rest and eat one of its gastronomic specialties: roast goat.
Almost the entire city revolves around the monastery, where you can visit some of its most important spaces, such as its prodigious Romanesque cloister or its museum of religious art. A walk through the villages will bring us even more surprises: the traditional houses and noble residences, the urban enclosure or the church of San Pedro, next to the Santo Domingo de Silos monastery.
Very close to this building, a few kilometres from the road towards Hinojar de Cervera, is the natural space known as La Yecla, a deep and narrow gorge dug into the limestone through which the visitor can enter through a series of suspended walkways that alternate kettles and waterfalls.
Seville: Setenil de las Bodegas
If there is one element that characterizes Setenil de las Bodegas, it is undoubtedly the urban fabric, a white hamlet literally embedded in the canyon of the Guadalporcún River, the true architect of Setenil de las Bodegas. On the northern edge of the province of Cádiz, almost two hours from Seville, Setenil de las Bodegas leaves no one indifferent. The first inhabitants, the prehistoric Setenileños, settled under the rocks, between caves and meanders.
Setenil de las Bodegas, in addition to its monumentality and beauty (it is included in the Route of the White Villages of Andalusia), receives thousands of visitors every year, eager to discover the stone sky that protects this town.
