La Alberca

La Alberca was declared a historic-artistic monument in 1940, the first rural village in Spain to receive that status, and its centre has changed little: houses of stone at ground level with upper floors of timber framing filled with adobe, projecting over the narrow streets on beams, and granite doorways carrying carved dates and inscriptions. The Plaza Mayor has a stone cross and arcades. A local tradition, the marrano de San Anton, sees a pig released into the streets in June to be fed by everyone until it is raffled in January. Around the village runs the Sierra de Francia with the Pena de Francia sanctuary at 1,723 metres, and the Batuecas valley with prehistoric rock art lies over the pass.

What you actually see

• The timber-framed houses - stone below, projecting wooden upper floors.
• The Plaza Mayor - arcaded square with a stone cross.
• The carved doorways - granite lintels with dates and inscriptions.
• The sierra setting - chestnut and oak slopes around the village.

When to go

April to June and September to November; autumn brings chestnuts and colour to the surrounding woods. Summer weekends fill the village with visitors from Salamanca and Madrid. Winter is cold and quiet.

Honest expectations

The centre is small and can be walked in an hour, and it is lined with souvenir and food shops. Parking is outside the village and fills at weekends. Roads through the sierra are winding and slow.

Nearby

The Batuecas valley and Pena de Francia are over the pass; Ciudad Rodrigo lies west.