Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Alcañices

What to see and do in Alcañices (Aliste, Zamora): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

Towns near Alcañices

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What to see in Trabazos 13 km · 4 places
What to see in San Vicente de la Cabeza 14 km · 6 places
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Spain › Castile and León › Zamora › Aliste › Alcañices

What to see and do in Alcañices

Alcañices
Village
Capital of the comarca of Aliste, in Zamora, next to the border with Portugal, 59 km from the provincial capital; with 1,062 inhabitants it is the only municipality in the comarca with more than a thousand. Its name, of Arabic origin, means “the churches” or “the reeds”, although it may have derived from an Astur-Zoela hillfort. Alfonso IX of León turned it into a border fortress and ceded it to the Order of the Temple in 1175; in 1297 it was visited by Ferdinand IV of Castile and Denis I of Portugal to seal the Treaty of Alcañices, which fixed the Spanish-Portuguese border. From its past survive four towers of the Templar wall, among them the Clock Tower, symbol of the town, and the palace of the marquises of Alcañices.
The Treaty of Alcañices
Historical milestone
Ferdinand IV of Castile, represented by his mother and guardian, Queen Maria de Molina, as he was a minor, and King Denis of Portugal signed here, on 12 September 1297, the treaty that fixed the boundary between the two kingdoms, considered the oldest continuous border in Europe, and put an end to a century and a half of disputes open since 1143. The agreement came after Portugal withdrew its support for the infante John of Castile, who had proclaimed himself king of León; Portugal received in exchange towns such as Campomayor, Olivenza and San Felices de los Gallegos. The treaty also sealed the betrothals between Ferdinand IV and the infanta Constance of Portugal, and between the Portuguese heir Alfonso and the infanta Beatrice of Castile.
The Clock Tower
Monument
Of the towers of the walled enclosure four survive, and this one, crowned by the clock, has become the symbol of the villa; the whole walled ensemble is protected with the category of historic ensemble.
The Renaissance chapel of the Franciscan convent
Monument
Attached to the old Franciscan convent, today converted into a cultural centre, it is a work of the sixteenth century; the parish church of the villa preserves for its part a doorway dated to the thirteenth century.
The marquisate of Alcañices
Historical milestone
Alcañices (Zamora) was the capital of the marquisate of the same name between 1371 and 1820. The title of marquis was granted by Charles I on 15 December 1533 to Francisco Enríquez de Almansa, for his part in the Battle of Villalar against the Comuneros, and in 1626 Philip IV granted the seventh marquis, Álvaro Enríquez de Borja, the rank of Grandee of Spain. As it was not subject to male-line succession, the title passed several times through the female line: after the ninth marquise died without issue in 1713, it passed to the dukes of Medina de Rioseco, and in 1741 to the counts of Grajal, whose house ended up merged, along with the rest of its titles, into the ducal house of Alburquerque. The marquises funded hospitals, granaries, bridges and fountains scattered throughout the Aliste district.
The maimón sponge cake
Food and drink
This crown-shaped sponge cake, proper to weddings and festivals, accompanies in the capital of Aliste the meat covered by the geographical indication Ternera de Aliste; both are the gastronomic hallmarks of the villa.
The riparian forest of the Angueira
Nature
The river Angueira maintains a well preserved riverside gallery in a municipal district included since 9 June 2015 in the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Meseta Ibérica declared by Unesco.