Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Aldeadávila de la Ribera

What to see and do in Aldeadávila de la Ribera (Vitigudino, Salamanca): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Aldeadávila de la Ribera

Arribes del Duero Natural Park 22 km

Towns near Aldeadávila de la Ribera

Spain › Castile and León › Salamanca › Vitigudino › Aldeadávila de la Ribera

What to see and do in Aldeadávila de la Ribera

Aldeadávila de la Ribera
Village
Aldeadávila de la Ribera is the head town of La Ribera, with about 1,094 inhabitants, and the most important settlement in the northwest of the Vitigudino district, at the edge of the province of Salamanca bordering Portugal, within the Arribes del Duero natural park. Since Miguel de Unamuno's visits it has been known as the heart of Las Arribes. It gives its name to the Aldeadávila dam, seven kilometres away, dug into the granite massif on which the village stands, amid a gentle relief that contrasts with the deep gorges of the Duero; its altitude ranges between the 776 metres of the Cabeza peak and the 190 metres of the riverbank next to the dam. It keeps the traditional cultivation of vines and olive trees on its slopes.
Arribes del Duero Natural Park
Nature
The Arribes del Duero natural park, declared on 11 April 2002, extends across the northwest of Salamanca and the southwest of Zamora provinces, along the Portuguese border, which has protected its own side as the Douro Internacional natural park since 1998. The name comes from a Leonese word denoting the river gorge formed here by the Duero and its tributaries. This deep cleft softens the thermal regime and acts as a heat sink, which allows Mediterranean crops on terraces, such as almond, olive, vine and even citrus, in the middle of the meseta. Also listed as a special protection area for birds, in 2015 it was declared, together with neighbouring areas, part of the Meseta Ibérica transboundary biosphere reserve.
La Bufa de San Antón
Curiosity
In the middle of winter the village brings out a masquerade of pre-Roman root tied to San Antón, considered the only celebration of this kind preserved in the province of Salamanca. The masked figures go through the streets with cowbells and ritual jokes.
The inauguration of the Aldeadávila dam
Historical milestone
Set on the middle course of the río Duero, 7 km from Aldeadávila de la Ribera, the dam marks the border between Spain and Portugal on the stretch known as the arribes del Duero. After seven years of building work begun in 1956, it was inaugurated on 17 October 1964. At 139.5 metres high and generating around 2,400 gigawatt-hours a year, it remains Spain's most productive hydroelectric plant and completely transformed the district. Beside the dam the settlement of Salto de Aldeadávila was built for the families of the workers who constructed it. Together with Almendra, Castro, Ricobayo, Saucelle and Villalcampo, it forms part of the Saltos del Duero system.