Alcázar de los Condestables de Castilla (14th century)

Medina de Pomar is a city of 5,800 people (2018) in Castile and Leon. It is half-way between Bilbao and Burgos, in a region with rolling hills and some escarpment that breaks down impressively into the Atlantic Ocean some 70 km away. Traditionally a rural community, it has developed into a vacation destination for several thousand residents of nearby Bilbao.

Understand

Medina de Pomar is part of the Comarca of Las Merindades with its varied landscape. The rivers Nela, Trueba and Salón, the steep slopes of the Tesla, the pine forests of Losa and flat surfaces that are dedicated nowadays to the cultivation of cereal, potatoes and lettuces.

Get in

It is 77 km from Bilbao, 88 km from Burgos, 8 km from Villarcayo and about 20 km from Espinosa de los Monteros.

By bus from Bilbao or Burgos.

Get around

You can walk anywhere in town, but its best sights and surrounding nature are best absorbed on a bicycle, a mountain bike if possible.

See

• Las Torres de Medina is an Arabic military fortress at the top of Calle Mayor.
• The Alcázar de los Condestables de Castilla was built on the south-west corner of the city's walls. It is a 14th-century fortification erected during the reign of Henry II of Castile.
• Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora del Salcinar y del Rosario is a chapel that houses the Virgin of Rosario, patron saint of the city. Lends its name to the great festivals of the city in October.Originally called Santa Maria del Salcinar (for being surrounded by the river willow), is now called Our Lady of the Rosary, thanks to the vow the council medines did and who took her as patron because of the victory of Battle of Lepanto (1571). It is the most beloved church by the city citizens and proof of this is that many of them choose it to get married there.
• Convento de Santa Clara, founded in 1313, is in the south of the city, near the Hospital of Vera Cruz and near the Hermitage of San Millán. In its interior there is a church, the family vault of the Fernandez de Velasco and the Museum of the Constables of Castile. It also has a cozy inn and a meeting place. During its seven centuries of history it has been inhabited by a community of Poor Clares, devoted to prayer and work.
• Arch of la Cadena is one of the gates that gave access to the walled city. It marked the Real road to Burgos. It is a picturesque archway in a house where King Carlos I stayed overnight on its way to retirement at the monastery of Yuste.
• The Arch of la Juderia is another of the five gates that gave access to the city, in this case the old Jewish district, hence its name. It is a building of the 16th century, possibly replacing an older one. It faces Nuño Rasura Street.

Drink

Drinking should not be a problem: this town has about 100 bars, which amounts for one for each 30 inhabitants, approximately.