Mini 2 Walls of Avila Spain, The Most Complete Medieval Construction that Remains

[DiscoverSpain]

Of all the cities of Castilla y León in Spain, Avila is one of the oldest. It is also of great cultural importance, as in 1985 the old city of Avila, its walls and the churches outside the walls of San Vicente, San Pedro, San Andrés and San Segundo were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Its imposing city wall, built in the 11th century, is almost entirely preserved today. This is the reason why it is the symbol of the city and has made it world famous. It is also considered to be the most complete surviving medieval construction in the world today.

Although the leadership of its construction was taken by the Roman Cassander and the Frenchman Florin de Pituenga, both masters of geometry, almost two thousand people worked on its construction during nine years. Most of them were Muslim captives who left their mark on certain Arab elements that can still be seen today in different parts of the wall.

At present, some 2.5 km of the perimeter of the wall are open to visitors. On this approximately one-hour walk you can enjoy excellent views of the city from one of its more than two thousand battlements.

In addition to the aforementioned city walls, we must highlight a series of elements that are also responsible for Avila being declared a World Heritage Site.

Avila Cathedral has the peculiarity of being the first Gothic cathedral to be built in Spain. There is not much information about its history or its builder. One theory holds that Alvar García began his work around the year 1090 on the remains of what used to be the Church of El Salvador, but most historians indicate that it was built by Fruchel during the 12th century.

A great explosion of Romanesque art took place in Avila at the end of the 11th century. Examples of this are the churches of San Andrés and San Vicente, which are worth a visit due to their historical and artistic importance. However, these are not the only Romanesque works to be found in Ávila. To see them all, we can follow the Romanesque Route, where we can see a large number of temples that are usually located in front of the gates and arches of the city walls.

On the other hand, at each of the nine gates of the city, we can find one or more palaces. The function of these was to defend the gates so that the invaders could not enter the city.

 

[GFields]

Awesome video!

 

[Yogi053]

Looks like well worth a visit.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Of all the cities of Castilla y León in Spain, Avila is one of the oldest. It is also of great cultural importance, as in 1985 the old city of Avila, its walls and the churches outside the walls of San Vicente, San Pedro, San Andrés and San Segundo were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Its imposing city wall, built in the 11th century, is almost entirely preserved today. This is the reason why it is the symbol of the city and has made it world famous. It is also considered to be the most complete surviving medieval construction in the world today.

Although the leadership of its construction was taken by the Roman Cassander and the Frenchman Florin de Pituenga, both masters of geometry, almost two thousand people worked on its construction during nine years. Most of them were Muslim captives who left their mark on certain Arab elements that can still be seen today in different parts of the wall.

At present, some 2.5 km of the perimeter of the wall are open to visitors. On this approximately one-hour walk you can enjoy excellent views of the city from one of its more than two thousand battlements.

In addition to the aforementioned city walls, we must highlight a series of elements that are also responsible for Avila being declared a World Heritage Site.

Avila Cathedral has the peculiarity of being the first Gothic cathedral to be built in Spain. There is not much information about its history or its builder. One theory holds that Alvar García began his work around the year 1090 on the remains of what used to be the Church of El Salvador, but most historians indicate that it was built by Fruchel during the 12th century.

A great explosion of Romanesque art took place in Avila at the end of the 11th century. Examples of this are the churches of San Andrés and San Vicente, which are worth a visit due to their historical and artistic importance. However, these are not the only Romanesque works to be found in Ávila. To see them all, we can follow the Romanesque Route, where we can see a large number of temples that are usually located in front of the gates and arches of the city walls.

On the other hand, at each of the nine gates of the city, we can find one or more palaces. The function of these was to defend the gates so that the invaders could not enter the city.

Excellent video short. Very interesting architecture. That adds Avila to the same "to visit" list with Carcasson.

 

[JimSteadman]

Your videos are always beautifully done and this is certainly no exception. Thank you for sharing these views of Spain, a place I need to visit.

 

[PHZ]

Great video and history. Thank you for sharing.

 

[CvCow]

Interesting information......on my bucket list for sure......

 

[DaveS]

Another great video showing off a spectacular place in Spain. Bravo!!!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Awesome video!

Thanks for so nice comment and watch it!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Looks like well worth a visit.

Without any doubt it is a city that deserves a visit.

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Excellent video short. Very interesting architecture. That adds Avila to the same "to visit" list with Carcasson.

Good choice with Carcassonne and without wishing to belittle it, you have plenty of cities in Spain such as Toledo, Segovia, Salamanca, Albarracín, Pedraza, ...etc. that you should consider adding to your list. By the way, I don't take any commission for advertising

Thank you very much for your comments!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Your videos are always beautifully done and this is certainly no exception. Thank you for sharing these views of Spain, a place I need to visit.

You're welcome and thank you for your nice comment about my videos!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Great video and history. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for watch and comment!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Interesting information......on my bucket list for sure......

Good choice and glad it is so after watching the video.
Thanks!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Another great video showing off a spectacular place in Spain. Bravo!!!

Sorry! I missed your comment.

Thanks for your continual support to my videos!

 

[wco81]

Good choice with Carcassonne and without wishing to belittle it, you have plenty of cities in Spain such as Toledo, Segovia, Salamanca, Albarracín, Pedraza, ...etc. that you should consider adding to your list. By the way, I don't take any commission for advertising

Thank you very much for your comments!

I'm going to Spain this month.

Several towns in Andalusia and Toledo and Madrid.

I'm looking athlete ENAIRE maps.

Some of the smaller towns like Ronda, Toledo and maybe Granada may allow recreational flights but apparently you have to get clearance from heliports or aerodromes of hospitals and such in most or all towns and cities.

Some places like the center of the bigger cities, it's just not allowed period.

Do you try to get approval from heliports or you just try to fly quick and then land if there are helicopters around?

I don't know if I should even pack my drone gear for this upcoming trip.

I am registered for the EU, through France and I've flown in Portugal, France and Italy.

 

[DiscoverSpain]

I'm going to Spain this month.

Several towns in Andalusia and Toledo and Madrid.

I'm looking athlete ENAIRE maps.

Some of the smaller towns like Ronda, Toledo and maybe Granada may allow recreational flights but apparently you have to get clearance from heliports or aerodromes of hospitals and such in most or all towns and cities.

Some places like the center of the bigger cities, it's just not allowed period.

Do you try to get approval from heliports or you just try to fly quick and then land if there are helicopters around?

I don't know if I should even pack my drone gear for this upcoming trip.

I am registered for the EU, through France and I've flown in Portugal, France and Italy.

The decision on whether or not to pack the drone in the suitcase is up to you. I can only give you objective data:

• In Spain, all state security forces, including local police, have invested in drone detection equipment.
• There is a unit of the Guardia Civil (a police force) that has a lot of resources and 3 dedicated people per Spanish province (there are 50 provinces). If they detect a drone doing something illegal, they coordinate with the police forces in the area, to locate the operator.
• Fines are up to 3000.000€.

Remember that in Spain it is mandatory that the drone is insured (there are companies like Coverdrone that insure for up to a day and it is very cheap), and that your drone operator's license must appears on the drone (you can put it in marker pen, a piece of paper glued, .... etc.)

 

[wco81]

Wow thanks for the info.

In the US there isn't a drone insurance policy that specifically covers any possible damage done by your drone in another country.

But people have homeowner's policy and as a personal property, it will cover over $1 million in liability.

Interesting to know that Spanish police will spend resources to catch illegal drone flights.

But I don't know how severe the drone coordination with heliports is. Some have phone numbers, some have emails.

In other countries there are similar rules so I've usually never flown around any good sized city because it's not always easy to contact the authorities and there may be a language barrier.

So I've flown mostly in the country side, between towns. But not in national parks because most national parks it's not permitted. Also not in places where there are protected birds or other wildlife, though it's not always easy to find out about that.

Portugal has a system which is kind of bureaucratic, you have to provide GPS coordinates and submit requests at a portal, which I did. It took weeks to get answers back. Some they approved, some they didn't.

But I got some great footage and photos in the Algarve, Porto and Douro Valleys.

They even helped coordinate with some military and ecological agencies for some parts over water or they told you how to request it.

Just looking at the Enaire map, it looks like Spain just doesn't want non-commercial pilots to fly in most places. I think professional pilots, including those flying for TV and movies, have to pay high license fees to the town so maybe the authorities permit that because there is income.


It's interesting that this thread is about Avila because I studied the drone maps for that town. The eastern part has a red zone, RPAS prohibited.

But the western part of the center which has some of the old walls, there has no aeronautical alerts or Aviso. But on the other side of the Rio Adaja, it shows paraglider for most of the month of April but normally its a clear zone like the western center of Avila.

Segovia when I looked at it last year was clear but now is a pink zone, needs to coordinate with the aerodrome from the Hospital de Segovia.

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Interesting to know that Spanish police will spend resources to catch illegal drone flights.

But I don't know how severe the drone coordination with heliports is. Some have phone numbers, some have emails.

Believe me, they spend too many resources, as if we were criminals or there was a national problem. Also, people don't help because they assume that by flying a drone, you are doing something illegal and often call the police.

Portugal has a system which is kind of bureaucratic, you have to provide GPS coordinates and submit requests at a portal, which I did. It took weeks to get answers back. Some they approved, some they didn't.

But I got some great footage and photos in the Algarve, Porto and Douro Valleys.

They even helped coordinate with some military and ecological agencies for some parts over water or they told you how to request it.

It is not so easy in Spain. To find out if you can fly in a protected natural area, you have to read the information of the Autonomous Community in which it is located (the Autonomous Communities are "like your states"). Often, read the master plan of the natural park, where it is often unclear whether you can fly a drone or not (for example, if it is forbidden to make noise, I assume that I can't fly the drone). If you have to ask for permission, you have to do it to the corresponding Autonomous Community and almost none of them usually responds.

With heliports, local airfields, ...etc. it is often worse because you have to find the contact details yourself. There is a form, but in Spanish only, at AESA-Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea - Ministerio de Fomento to request coordination / flight authorisation.

To make matters worse, there are other restricted flying zones where you have to apply to the military to fly.

In short, in many cases it is an odyssey to make applications for flight authorisations.

You are absolutely right.

It's interesting that this thread is about Avila because I studied the drone maps for that town. The eastern part has a red zone, RPAS prohibited.

But the western part of the center which has some of the old walls, there has no aeronautical alerts or Aviso. But on the other side of the Rio Adaja, it shows paraglider for most of the month of April but normally its a clear zone like the western center of Avila.

In Avila, you can legally fly (unless there is a NOTAM or something exceptional) in almost all interesting parts of the city.

By the way, be careful with the area marked LEP161 as it is restricted by the Spanish National Police academy.

Segovia when I looked at it last year was clear but now is a pink zone, needs to coordinate with the aerodrome from the Hospital de Segovia.

That's right, as the years go by, more no-fly zones appear, or many existing ones are extended, as they did in Madrid.

Another example, until recently, there was an area in Toledo where it was legal to fly the drone. Now it is impossible: you have to ask for several authorisations, to fly on some areas, up to 4 different ones.

As said before, if you want to fly in Segovia, you will have to find the contact details of the people who manage the hospital heliport and try to talk to them to find out how to address your request to them.

Wow thanks for the info.

I am happy to help.
Cheers

 

[wco81]

So it's interesting, I'm in Ronda currently.

I used Enaire map and it showed coordination with local aerodromes to be able to fly. There are two emails in the zone covering Ronda so I emailed and expressed interest in flying.

I exchanged emails and I think I was contacted by more than the two email addresses I contacted. One was Malaga police.

But the heliports for the hospitals said okay, you should be okay to fly but if you hear helicopters, land the drone.

The first day I tried, I'm getting all kinds of compass errors or magnetic interference. I had to calibrate 2 or 3 times and then it calibrated and I flew. But then only about 5 minutes in, it reports another compass error so I RTH and tried a couple more times to calibrate and nothing.

Then I drive out to Senetil de las Bodegas, about 12-15 kilometers north and from there, it calibrated the first time. But I didn't fly there, just wanted to see if it would be different in another location.

I'm near the bridge overlooking the gorge so you can see the red cliffs and such. I wonder if the type of rocks is causing the magnetic interference.

Repeated compass errors

I'm traveling now and staying that this apt. over a cliff, overlooking a beautiful gorge, in Spain. The place has some narrow terraces but the alternative is that this is a popular tourist destination so not too many places to launch. So I just flew off one of the terraces. When I first...

mavicpilots.com

I try one more time my last day in Ronda. Had to calibrate 2 or 3 times. I fly a bit, not too high, under 60 meters AGL and go out maybe 300 meters from home. Then I start hearing noisy helicopters. This was after about 5-10 minutes. I got a chance to record about 4-5 minutes of video and did a couple of 180 panos.

The helicopters kept circling above, as if trying to locate me or maybe I'm being paranoid.

I land the drone and go inside and 15-30 minutes after I land I still hear the helicopters. I look closely and it's definitely a police helicopter. But earlier there was a larger helicopter which may have been a hospital one.

I don't know if they're looking for me? If they need me to turn on the drone and the controller, they won't be getting that. I shut down, was going to try again later but now I'm not so sure I should try.

When my drone landed, there were again calibration errors.

So I'm in this magnificent terrain but there are things working against me:

1. Weather not so great, kind of windy (getting warnings in the controller about the wind) it's suppose to get cloudy in the afternoon.

2. Repeated magnetic interference. Someone suggested in other thread that the rocks may have a lot of iron content causing these warnings and errors in the DJI Go 4 app.

3. Then maybe the police looking out for drones? They are using a lot of fuel for that helicopter, circling right above where I was flying.


I cleared flying in Toledo next week so we'll see how that goes.

It's really a shame that the Spanish authorities are so aggressive about making flying drones difficult. There are some of us who are responsible and want to respect all the laws but certain EU countries have way more restrictive policies above the EU AESA standard.

For instance, before 2020, Austria made it impossible to fly recreationally, wanted like 200 Euros for any drone with a camera. That was like per flight or something.

When the EU rules came into effect, I actually got to fly in Austria without worrying much about it.

But Portugal and Greece both have pre-flight authorizations you have to get. I wouldn't mind that system in Spain, I'll go through some bureaucratic red tape than this situation.

I was going to upgrade to a CE Mark compliant drone once the new rules go into effect in the EU but now I wonder if it's worth it.