Guide for Extremadura - Western Spain
This is a short
guide for the regional zones in Extremadura - Western Spain area. You can take
it as a start point to plan your trip to western Spain. This guide includes a
resume of monuments, history, culture and a reference for lodging: rural
houses, apartments and hotels.
Extremadura is a wide region located in the
western Spain area, just in the border of Portugal.
Winter in
this region is not so cold, it has Mediterranean climate, with short and mild
winters because the proximity of the Atlantic coast of Portugal. Maybe, the
north of Caceres or the mountain ranges at Guadalupe (at the east) are places
with lower temperatures, but the average temperature in winter is over 8ºC.
Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures up to 40ºC some days, mainly in
Badajoz (south of Extremadura)
Since first
settlers arrived to this land (many thousands years ago) this region was always
a very valued place, located in an strategic area, with a relatively smooth
climate and a perfect land for farming and stockbreeding. Many cultures and
civilizations have lived in this land: prehistoric
civilizations, pre-Roman cultures, Romans, Visigods, Arabs, Cristian..
In the XIX
century and first part of XX century, Extremadura was a region with a very
limited level of industrialization. Also, the population density in the area is
very low. Those factors have allowed that many zones of Extremadura have
preserved the original nature for centuries and traditional farming lands, mainly the vast
expanse of wood pastures called dehesas. Extremadura is the
region of Western Europe with the highest percentage of Important Bird Areas, so it is the perfect place for
birdwatching.
Extremadura
has two provinces: Cáceres and Badajoz. And there are many regional zones, each
of one with its own culture, traditions, history, monuments, gastronomy..
Every zone
offers to the visitor unique and variated points of interest: ancient
monuments, culture and tratidions preserved for centuries, nature: rivers,
mountains, dehesas.. zones for birdwatching, for hicking or simply for
relax
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