Logbook · 12 places

What to see and do in Laguardia

What to see and do in Laguardia (Cuadrilla de Laguardia-Rioja Alavesa, Álava): 12 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 6 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 3 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Laguardia

Towns near Laguardia

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Spain › Basque Country › Álava › Cuadrilla de Laguardia-Rioja Alavesa › Laguardia

What to see and do in Laguardia

Laguardia
Village
Walled town of the Rioja Alavesa, on a hill overlooking the comarca. According to tradition, the Navarrese king Sancho Abarca built a castle there in the early 10th century to watch over the south of the kingdom, under the name "La Guarda de Navarra." Sancho VI the Wise granted it a charter in 1164 and the rank of villa, which drew merchants, craftsmen, and farmers to the hill protected by the castle.
Murallas de Laguardia
Monument
Walled enclosure built in the 13th century on the orders of Sancho VII the Strong, which, despite damage suffered during the Peninsular War and the 19th-century Carlist Wars, is well preserved and has been restored. It retains five of its access gates: Mercadal, Carnicerías, Páganos, San Juan, and Santa Engracia.
Félix María de Samaniego
Historical milestone
The Neoclassical fabulist Félix María de Samaniego was born and died in Laguardia (1745-1801). His Fábulas, written between 1781 and 1784 and made up of 157 pieces, are among the most popular in Spanish literature, alongside those of Tomás de Iriarte.
Muralla de Laguardia
Monument
Walled enclosure with five gates surrounding the medieval layout of three parallel streets, fortified in the late 12th and early 13th centuries in the time of Sancho VII the Strong. Vehicle traffic is restricted in the old town because a network of more than two hundred centuries-old underground wine cellars extends beneath its streets.
Poza celtibérica de La Barbacana, Laguardia
Curiosity
Celtiberian water cistern built some 2,100 years ago, with a capacity of 300,000 liters, preserved beneath the historic center of Laguardia.
Torre Abacial de Laguardia
Monument
Defensive tower built in two phases: the first, in transitional Romanesque style, coincides with the period when the walls were built; the second was raised between the 13th and 14th centuries.
Iglesia de Santa María de los Reyes
Monument
Begun in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 14th (naves and chancel from the 16th), with a main altarpiece by Juan de Bascardo (17th century) and a late 14th-century Gothic portico polychromed in the 17th, with carvings of the Apostles and the Virgen de los Reyes on the trumeau.
Iglesia de San Juan
Monument
Church begun in Romanesque style and finished in Gothic, with a south portal from the late 12th century; its bell tower formed part of the town wall's defences.
Poblado celtibérico de La Hoya
Historical milestone
Archaeological site of a Berones settlement continuously occupied from the 12th to the 2nd century BC.
Dólmenes del término de Laguardia
Historical milestone
The municipal term contains several dolmens excavated in the 20th century: El Sotillo (excavated in 1963, with 13 slabs and Neolithic burials), San Martín (excavated in 1964, with the remains of 21 individuals), Layaza (discovered in 1952), Los Llanos (located in 1982) and the Alto de la Huesera (excavated in 1948 and restored between 2010 and 2015, with more than a hundred burials over two thousand years of use).
Lagunas de Carralogroño, Carravalseca y Musco
Nature
Group of three endorheic lagoons protected as a biotope, next to the Prao de la Paul reservoir.
Bodega Ysios
Monument
Winery designed by the architect Santiago Calatrava, an example of contemporary wine-related architecture in the Rioja Alavesa.