"Castilla y Leon" Top 5 Page for this destination Castilla y León by -deja.Ismael

Castilla y Leon (Castile & Leon) is one of the 19 "autonomies" (17 autonomous communities+2 autonomous cities) who form the kingdom of Spain.

<p>It is formed by 9 provinces: Avila, Burgos, Palencia, Segovia, Soria & Valladolid (Castilla), plus Leon, Salamanca & Zamora (Leon).

It has its own administration, a Parliament ("Cortes de Castilla y Leon") and an autonomous governement ("Junta de Castilla y Leon").

The region is placed in the center and Northwest of Spain, being the biggest region of the European Union: 94,193 Km2, having around 2.5 million inhabitants. That means the population density is also among the lowest of the European Union (only 27 inhab/Km2). The region has only 12 cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants.

Valladolid is the capital of the region, and lodges the Regional Governement and Parliament (the Justice Court is in Burgos). It has almost 400,000 inhabitants.
It is an important comunications crossroad, between the North of Spain, Portugal and France. It has an international airport, too.

Speaking about the economy of the region, the agricultural sector, which was the most important one, produces today around the 7% of the local GDP, employing the 9% of the workforce. The industry produces around 23% of the GDP and 19% of the workforce. Apart from the agriculture-related industry, it is important the energy production (waterfalls, thermal ...), metallurgy, car manufacturing (with international brands like Renault, Mercedes, Nissan, Iveco ... as well as a lot of minor factories of car components), chemistry .... These industries are mainly concentrated in the axis Valladolid-Palencia-Burgos-Miranda de Ebro.

The political union of Castile and Leon was established in 13th century, under king Ferdinand III (Saint Ferdinand). The marriage of Queen Isabella I of Castile & Leon, with the king Ferdinand II of Aragon involved the union of Spain.

16th century is an era of prosperity of the region, based mainly on its agriculture and sheep-raising, but also an important textil industry, without forgetting the wealth coming from the American colonies. An important portion of this wealth was spent in monuments and art, who can be still visited today.

There are 7 Universities in the region, 4 public ones (Burgos, Leon, Salamanca & Valladolid ), plus 3 private ones (Avila, Pontificia de Salamanca, and Segovia-SEK). The ons of Salamanca & Valladolid have a 700 years-old tradition.

For tourists, Castilla y Leon offers and impressive Historic and Artistic Heritage (perhaps the most important of Spain), the possibility of practising different sports (hikking, mountains, fishing, water-related sports ....), and also its environment, handicraft, and a privilegiated gastronomy.

• Pros:Monuments, history, nature, gastronomy.
• Cons:MMhhh ... climate (very hot in summer, and cold in winter)? :-)