Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in Arévalo de la Sierra

What to see and do in Arévalo de la Sierra (Almarza, Soria): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 2 Nature · 2 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Arévalo de la Sierra

Towns near Arévalo de la Sierra

What to see in Almarza 5.7 km · 8 places
What to see in Estepa de San Juan 6 km · 5 places
What to see in Las Aldehuelas 6 km · 5 places
What to see in Ausejo de la Sierra 6.2 km · 4 places
What to see in Oncala 7.6 km · 7 places
What to see in Castilfrío de la Sierra 8.4 km · 4 places
What to see in Vizmanos 8.5 km · 4 places
What to see in Aldealices 9 km · 5 places

Spain › Castile and León › Soria › Almarza › Arévalo de la Sierra

What to see and do in Arévalo de la Sierra

Arévalo de la Sierra
Village
Arévalo de la Sierra is a municipality in the comarca of Almarza, in the north of the province of Soria, with 71 inhabitants; it includes the hamlets of Torrearévalo and Ventosa de la Sierra, with which it merged in 1966, as well as the depopulated hamlet of Castellanos de la Sierra. It is watered by the río Zarranzano, a tributary of the Tera in the Duero basin, south of the sierra del Alba and that of Montes Claros, on the watershed between the Atlantic and Mediterranean slopes. Known in the Middle Ages as Arébalo, it belonged to the Comunidad de Villa y Tierra de Soria, in the Sexmo de Tera; the Censo de Pecheros of 1528 recorded 58 taxpaying family units, and that of 1842, 67 households and 270 residents.
The nature reserve of the Acebal de Garagüeta
Nature
The Acebal de Garagüeta is a protected natural area located in the district of Arévalo de la Sierra, in the north of the province of Soria, within the northern Iberian System and around the Montes Claros mountain range. It is protected as a nature reserve by the Regional Government of Castile and León under Law 11/2008 of 9 December. It is considered the largest holly wood on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the most important in southern Europe: it covers 406.4 hectares, of which some 180 form a pure and continuous mass of holly trees that grow densely and in a maze-like fashion, forming natural vaults traditionally called sestiles, a refuge for thrushes, roe deer and blackbirds, with a microclimate around 5 degrees warmer than outside.
The sestiles (holly bowers)
Nature
The hollies close over to form natural vaults called sestiles, plant chambers where in summer the temperature falls some five degrees below the outside and in winter stays milder.
The traditional cutting of the holly
Curiosity
For centuries livestock sheltered in the sestiles and the branches with red fruit were cut for Christmas decoration; today that use is still allowed but regulated within the nature reserve.
The hermitage of the Santo Cristo de los Remedios
Monument
A shrine of comarca-wide devotion next to the parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción; its festival, on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, draws residents from all the surrounding villages.
The sexmo of Tera (administrative district)
Historical milestone
Arévalo de la Sierra, known in the Middle Ages as Arébalo, was part of the sexmo of Tera, one of the five administrative divisions — together with those of Frentes, San Juan, Arciel and Luvia — into which the Community of Town and Land of Soria was organised. The 1528 Census of Pecheros, which did not count clergy, hidalgos or nobles, recorded fifty-eight pechero households in the village, that is, family units that paid taxes.
The deserted village of Castellanos de la Sierra
Curiosity
Besides Torrearévalo and Ventosa de la Sierra, annexed in 1966, the municipal district holds the deserted village of Castellanos de la Sierra and the hamlet of the acebal itself, today without permanent residents. Castellanos de la Sierra was its own municipality until the mid-19th century, when it was merged into Arévalo de la Sierra; in 1528 it had only eight taxpaying family units, and in 1842 the census recorded eight households and 32 residents. It had already become uninhabited by the 20th century, although the ruins of its hamlet can still be seen. Its district also contains the castro of El Castellar, or El Castillo, a settlement from the 4th to the 2nd century BC, oval in plan and covering around 18,000 square metres, the largest of all those studied in the entire province of Soria.
Wool and the olive harvest
Historical milestone
During the 19th and 20th centuries the economy of Arévalo de la Sierra combined the export of wool and livestock raising with the growing of wheat and rye, and with the crews who went down every winter to pick olives in Andalusia and Extremadura.