Villalba De Los Barros: Holiday Apartment, Castle, Wine and Guadajira

When comparing a holiday apartment in Villalba De Los Barros, travel dates, room category and cancellation policies on the offer pages can help with an objective comparison. The themes of culture, wine, water and hiking stand alongside one another as different focuses for planning your trip.

Culture

With the Castillo de Villalba de los Barros, Villalba De Los Barros is home to a structure with an outer square barbican and a higher inner fortified area. The latter is arranged around a narrow weapons courtyard; notable features are the square keep and attached semicircular towers. The Castillo was built in 1418 by Don Gómez Suárez de Figueroa from stone on a level settlement site above an earlier Arab fortification. The Castillo is also known as Castillo de la Vaguada, was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (Bien de Interés Cultural, BIC) in the category of Archaeological Zone, and is considered an important historical-archaeological complex.

The Iglesia parroquial de la Purificación is a Gothic building originally constructed in the 16th century, with a single-nave layout, an octagonal apse, rib vaults and chapels between the buttresses. The parish church contains a Gothic depiction of Nuestra Señora de Montevirgen from the 13th century. Outside the town lies the Ermita de Montevirgen, a rural chapel with a single-nave body, vaulted chancel, Camarín and atrium in a natural setting.

Nature

The Embalse Villalba de los Barros is located on the Guadajira River, a tributary of the Guadiana. Nature and water characterize the surroundings of the reservoir. Access is via a rocky road that is about 20 minutes from the town; drive slowly on it. There are only a few services in the immediate vicinity of the Embalse within a 20-minute radius.

Wine and Regional Cuisine

Castúo Wines is based in Villalba de los Barros and offers tours of its bodega. The tour begins with work in the vineyard and includes winemaking, maturation and bottling; this is followed by a wine tasting with an aperitif made from regional products. Uñas de gato are homemade sweets made from almonds and eggs.

More town pages for planning your trip: Higuera de Vargas, Esparragosa De Lares, Táliga, Cheles, Montemolín, Fuenlabrada De Los Montes, Cabeza Del Buey and Calamonte.

Trails and Tradition

The Virgen de Montevirgen is the patron saint of Villalba de los Barros; her feast is celebrated on 7 and 8 September. The first edition of the Ruta Senderista por el Guadajira followed 10 kilometres of a path running parallel to the river and connecting three towns. During this first edition, 23 points of interest were designated; virtual tours accessible via QR codes were planned for four places along the route. The first edition started at the former 16th-century Convento de Montevirgen in the municipal area of Villalba de los Barros.

For the higher-level travel overview: Badajoz.