Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in El Barraco

What to see and do in El Barraco (Burgohondo - El Tiemblo - Cebreros, Ávila): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Nature

How far each place is from the centre of El Barraco

Towns near El Barraco

Spain › Castile and León › Ávila › Burgohondo - El Tiemblo - Cebreros › El Barraco

What to see and do in El Barraco

El Barraco
Village
El Barraco is a municipality of 2086 inhabitants at 1008 metres above sea level, in the Alberche valley, with the settlements of Arroyo de la Parra, Las Cruceras and La Rinconada del Valle. Near El Tiemblo stands the El Burguillo reservoir, from 1913, the first dam to regulate the Alberche, now used for water supply, irrigation and power generation. The earliest documented settlements date back to the Verracos culture, characteristic of the Vettones, around the sixth century BC, the source of the verraco (stone boar) on the municipal coat of arms; after Roman rule and Muslim occupation, the territory became part of Castilian Extremadura. It preserves a sixteenth-century church and town hall and the Gaznata tower, from the early thirteenth century, and its territory looks onto the Iruelas valley.
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de El Barraco
Monument
A 16th-century church of sober Herrerian line whose design is attributed to Juan de Herrera. It presides over a municipality of 153.9 square kilometres at 1,008 metres of altitude, with well preserved pine woods throughout its district.
Tower of la Gaznata
Monument
A 13th-century tower raised at the spot of La Gaznata, testimony to the control of the territory in the centuries following the Christian resettlement of these slopes on the northern side of Gredos.
The Iruelas Valley Nature Reserve
Nature
Declared on 17 June 1997, it protects 8,828 hectares spread among four municipalities and shelters one of the most important breeding colonies of black vulture in Europe, as well as centuries-old yews, hollies and pines.
The El Burguillo reservoir
Nature
The El Burguillo reservoir, in the sub-basin of the Alberche river, is shared between the municipalities of El Barraco and El Tiemblo, in the province of Ávila, and is the largest and most important in the province, with 910 hectares of surface area and 208.6 cubic hectometres of capacity. Built in 1913 to regulate the Alberche under a design by the engineers E. Becerril and A. Peralba, it is one of the oldest dams in Spain, 91 metres high and 300 metres along its crest; it supplies water for irrigation and drives hydroelectric power stations. Its expanse of water, set between pine-covered slopes, is today one of the valley's bathing and boating areas, with zones for sailing, rowing and motor boats; on a small island stands a building imitating a medieval castle surrounded by a wall.