Villalba of the Alcores

Inhabited since pre-Roman times, Villalba of the Alcores is located northeast of the province of Valladolid. Specifically, its municipal area is divided between the beautiful regions of the Torozos mountains and Farmland.

Already in medieval times, after belonging to the Muslims, it would be repopulated by Christians. There are abundant samples in the town of Fuenteungrillo, where remains dated between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries have been found. Today, Villalba de los Alcores is a small Castilian town dedicated to agriculture where you can visit outstanding monuments. Next, we are going to show you what to see and do in this beautiful town.

Castle of Villalba de los Alcores

It dominates the town from a promontory and is its authentic symbol both for its history and for its monumental value. Regarding the first one, he spent some time there Juana I of Castile when she was in procession towards Granada with her husband's coffin, Philip the Beautiful. Likewise, it served as a prison for the Dauphin of France and his brother, taken hostage by Carlos I until his father, Francisco I, complied with the provisions of the Treaty of Madrid, after the Battle of Pavia.

Regarding the monumental, there is no consensus about the date of its construction. However, the most accepted thesis places it in the XII century, within the fortifications created in the context of the border struggles between Castilla and León. But, in any case, it would have been complemented in the XIV and XV.

As a result, you can still appreciate today various venues. The exterior consists of a wall on which there were several towers and battlements. Through a pointed arch door you entered the premises. After passing through a guard courtyard, you reached a second doorway through which you accessed another space with also crenellated cubes. Finally, we reached the parade ground and the castle itself.

They made it up three overlapping galleries. The lower one, which is still preserved, is covered by a vault supported by Gothic arches supported by Saxon-style massifs. The other two galleries present similar characteristics. And later is the beautiful powder tower, which even describes an ellipse. Finally, in the northern area is the tower of tribute, even higher than the rest of the building.

On the other hand, Villalba de los Alcores also has another medieval vestige. It's about your walls, built in the XNUMXth century. Several canvases are still preserved and, above all, some of his circular towers. In its time, it had two doors, the one below and the one above.

Church of Santiago Apóstol and other temples in the town of Valladolid

Exactly next to what was the Abajo door, you will find the beautiful church of Santiago Apóstol, also built at the end of the XNUMXth century. Therefore, it shows Romanesque and transitional features to Gothic. However, the portico and the sacristy were built in the XNUMXth century and respond to the neoclassical style.

Externally, it stands out for its strong walls and its square bell tower. In turn, the latter was built in the XNUMXth century and has Renaissance elements. As for the interior, it consists of three naves covered by Gothic ribbed vaults. Likewise, the main chapel, with its baroque altarpiece, houses the images of the Apostle James and the Virgin of Fuentes, patron saint of Villalba de los Alcores.

To the same century belongs the church of Santa María del Templo, whose construction is attributed to the Templars. It also responds to the Romanesque style, although in its case with Cistercian influence. Therefore, its exterior forms are austere, with a semicircular apse and a semicircular doorway with archivolts. Regarding the interior, it is distributed in a single nave covered by a pointed barrel vault supported by transverse arches.

For its part, the hermitage of Santo Cristo del Humilladero It was built around the XNUMXth century and inside it houses a beautiful altarpiece that comes from the monastery of Santa María de Matallana. This monastery, built in the 1931th century, was declared a National Monument in XNUMX, despite the fact that it is in ruins. However, works are being carried out for its partial restoration.

Likewise, today it has become a nature interpretation center. It has a botanical garden with the native flora of the area, but also a lake, a dovecote and a theme park for the different sheep breeds of the region. If you travel with your children, we advise you to visit it because, in addition to getting closer to nature, they will be able to enjoy some children's attractions.

Medieval site of Fuenteungrillo

We have already mentioned before the existence of this medieval town near Villalba de los Alcores. The different archaeological campaigns carried out in its surroundings have brought to light remains ranging from the XNUMXth century to the XNUMXth century, when it was abandoned.

Nowadays, you can see remains of the old wall, a castle and several churches with their necropolis. However, there is a project to create a archeological Museum on site, with a teaching classroom and with the reconstruction of one of its homes. Not in vain, this site has been declared A Cultural.

Popular architecture of Villalba de los Alcores

Along with all of the above, another of the great attractions of the Valladolid town is the popular architecture of their houses. These consist of two very different parts: the ground floor, which is built in stone, and the upper floor, which is built in adobe and is dedicated to a bread basket. For their part, the roofs are single or gable roofs with a slight slope. But more curious is the glory", a primitive and efficient heating system.

Likewise, they are part of the popular architecture of the town. the dovecotes, which had a dual purpose: raising chicks and obtaining pigeon for fertilizer. And we can tell you the same thing about the wineries, which were dug in the ground and today are used to make social life sheltered from the summer heat.

The Carpentry Museum

It is still curious that a small town like Villalba de los Alcores has a museum dedicated to carpentry. The reason is that this professional sector had a lot of strength in the town for a long time. You will find it in the rooms attached to the Town hall and consists of three rooms.

The first is dedicated to the tools that these professionals used. Some of them are more than a hundred years old. For its part, in the second, an entire old workshop has been recreated and in the third, work carried out by local carpenters is shown.

Hiking routes through the Torozos mountains

As we told you at the beginning of our article, part of the municipality of Villalba de los Alcores is located in the region of Torozos mountains. Despite its name, it is a wasteland with gentle hills rising above the valleys of the Pisuerga and Carrión rivers. But, more importantly, it is an area that offers you nice hiking trails.

Some allow you to get to know small towns such as castromonte, where you can see the church of the Immaculate Conception and the hermitage of Santo Cristo de las Eras, or Villanubla, with its beautiful Romanesque temple of the Assumption of Our Lady. But, above all, as Fuensaldana, which has one of the best preserved medieval castles in Spain, as it was restored in 1983. Likewise, the church of San Cipriano is very beautiful, in the Gothic-Mudejar style and with an exquisite Rococo altarpiece.

Among the routes that we told you, you can do the one that connects Villalba with Montealegre de Campos. Between round trip, it has a length of about fifteen kilometers and is of low difficulty, since its gradient is only around one hundred meters. You can also take the tour Villalba-El Puntal-Camino de Valoria, Passing by Bottom Shearing. In its case, it extends for nine kilometers and is simple, it doesn't even have a slope.

More complex and already leaving the Torozos mountains is the route that goes to Medina de Rioseco. It is a route of almost twenty kilometers with a gradient of one hundred meters. But, as a reward, you will get to know this other beautiful town in Valladolid, which has a beautiful Plaza Mayor. Likewise, it retains a good part of its Wall which still has three of its doors: those of Zamora, San Sebastián and Ajújar. They are part of an impressive set of civil monuments that are completed with stately homes such as those of the Núñez de Monroy, the Pizarro or Bishop Caso and with other types of buildings such as the San Antonio flour factory and the fountains.

But, if the civil complex of Medina is spectacular, the religious complex is even more brilliant. It highlights churches as spectacular as that of Santa María de Mediavilla, with its exuberant Benavente chapel; those of St. James y Santa Cruz, both designed by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, or the conventual of San Francisco, dedicated to Virgin of Expectation.

In conclusion, we have shown you the best things you can see and do in the beautiful town of Villalba of the Alcores. We just want to advise you that, if you come to see it, you also visit the magnificent Medina del Campo and the capital of the province itself. Come and enjoy this wonderful area of Castilla.