We are back to my dear Spain again !! love it !! We came by car of course and took time to see new areas and old repeat with some of them as introduction to my sons and our dog Rex ! I came into Tordesillas after several years and it was sublime ! I like to continue my road warrior stories this time in Tordesillas. Therefore, here is my take on the curiosities of Tordesillas !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The town of Tordesillas is located in the province of Valladolid and the autonomous community of Castilla y Léon in the kingdom of Spain, It is 33 km from Valladolid City , 11 km from our rental house in Velliza, and 183 km from Madrid, We walked all over the small town, and saw wonderful monuments. I like to keep them in my blog for the memories of always and return, eventually.
On the origin of the current bridge there is no reference, nor date, or traces, nor authors. The pointing of its arches indicates its medieval origin. It has ten eyes and among the arches it wears tajamares of triangular plant. In the 10C it is known that there was a bridge, but the current one has its origins in a deep remodeling of the 15C. The strength of the river current forced its consolidation in the 16C and 18C. The town and its bridge were the roads that linked the northwest of the Peninsula with the center, facilitating the crossing for the wide of the river.
The muralla or wall surrounded the entire town and had a fiscal and military character. Only a tower called Torre de Sila is preserved in the western part, in which a portillo in a pointed arch is opened, which betrays its medieval origin. There are also canvases in the east and west totally rebuilt the wall had four main doors, which coincide with the four cardinal points. To the south, the Puerta del Puente; to the east, the Puerta de Valladolid or Puerta de la Villa; To the north, the Puerta del Mercado, and to the west the Puerta Nueva. In the old Plaza Mayor you have the city hall or ayuntamiento of Tordesillas, here is where we had lunch and parked our car for the day.
Tordesillas had its royal palace, a temporary headquarters of the traveling courts of the Castilian monarchies and especially remarkable for being the place where Queen Juana I of Castile was held for 46 years It had three doors: the main one, looking at the river; another to the west, on Calle San Antolín, and the third to the north, in front of the Palacio de los Alderete. After the death of Queen Doña Juana, the palace was abandoned and, despite making repairs to avoid its dilapidated state, was demolished in 1773 during the reign of Carlos III.
A bit of history I like tell us that Tordesillas appears for the first time mentioned in historical documents towards the year 939, when Abderramán III went through Tordesillas after the siege of Zamora with a army of 100,000 men. Three months later he loses the battle of Simancas in front of The Allied troops of Ramiro II de León, Fernán González (First Count of Castile), and García Sanchez I King of Navarra. This battle took place on August 5, 939, The town of Tordesillas is located at 704 meters above sea level, It holds the royal titles of very illustrious, old, crowned, loyal and noble village. The city appears in the documents of the High Middle Ages under the name of Oterium de Selis, “Otero” meaning “mountain”. It is also this last characteristic which would seem to be at the origin of this city which was first a strategic fortified rock to monitor the surrounding land. The name of the city then appears around 939, see battle above.
It is an important crossroads between the Northwest A-6 highway (km 177-188), the Castilla A-62 highway (km 142-144 and 146-159) and the Duero A-11 highway, and it is a meeting point between several Castilian cities such as Valladolid, Zamora and Salamanca. In addition, the VA-405 road pass through the town, which connects with Serrada; VA-515, which goes to Velilla; and VP-5805 that allows communication with Matilla de los Caños.
In origin it was a high fortified escarpe that served as surveillance to the fields around in the 9C, García, the eldest son of Alfonso III, continued the repopulation work of these lands from León occupied the Otero that would later be part of Tordesillas and from there he directed and centralized the repopulation with Mozarabes and with people arriving from Asturias and León. In this way it can be said that the birth of Tordesillas was of Asturleon origin. Tordesillas was lordship of several queens and lovers. The first was Leonor de Guzmán, lover of King Alfonso XI. Then Pedro I gave the town to his mother, Queen María de Portugal and in 1354 to his lover, María de Padilla. After the death of King Pedro, the town passed to Enrique II’s wife, Juana Manuel, later to Queen Leonor de Aragón, Juan I’s first wife, and later to his second wife, the Portuguese Infanta, Beatriz de Portugal who possessed the town until 1385, the year in which her husband reincorporated it to the crown and donated Béjar to his wife as compensation, Juana I of Castilla, known as Juana La Loca, was held in Tordesillas in 1509, where she remained until her death in 1555.
The town of Tordesillas on its heritage : https://www.tordesillas.net/
The province of Valladolid on Tordesillas: https://www.provinciadevalladolid.com/en/-/tordesillas-3
The regional Castilla y Léon tourist office on Tordesillas : https://www.turismocastillayleon.com/en/art-culture-heritage/historic-sites/tordesillas
There you go folks , another wonderful nostalgic, sentimental trip to my dear Spain, Tordesillas was a pleasant quant, historical, near our house, I love it, We will be back ,eventually!, Again, hope you enjoy this post on the curiosities of Tordesillas !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 