Logbook · 3 places

What to see and do in Piedralaves

What to see and do in Piedralaves (Arenas de San Pedro, Ávila): 3 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones

Towns near Piedralaves

Spain › Castile and León › Ávila › Arenas de San Pedro › Piedralaves

What to see and do in Piedralaves

Piedralaves
Village
Piedralaves is a town in the comarca of the Tiétar valley, in the province of Ávila, situated at 717 metres above sea level on the southern slope of the sierra de Gredos; it has a population of about 2,180 inhabitants. The Tiétar river, which gathers the gargantas flowing down from Gredos, marks the boundary with the province of Toledo. On 23 May 1639 King Philip IV granted it the privilege of town status, with which it broke away from the lordship of La Adrada, then a marquisate. It preserves a free-standing clock tower by the town hall, a medieval bridge on the old road from Madrid to Plasencia, and houses with wooden balconies over granite masonry, the legacy of a traditional style of building adapted to the area's Mediterranean climate with oceanic influence.
The Pool of la Nieta
Nature
The village's natural swimming pool forms in the gorge that comes down from the sierra, at 717 metres of altitude. Above it, the vegetation is stepped with cork oaks on the low ground, pine woods between 900 and 1,700 metres and junipers and rockrose higher up.
The town charter of Piedralaves
Historical milestone
Felipe IV detached the village from the lordship of La Adrada that day by royal privilege. The local people have commemorated it twice with monuments, in 1989 on the 350th anniversary and again in 2014 for the 375th.