Park in Soria
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
The wooded hillside above the Douro just outside Soria that Gustavo Adolfo Becquer turned into his Gothic legend “El Monte de las Animas,” one of the most famous ghost stories in Spanish. Open countryside, free to walk year-round, with an open view back over the river to the old town. It links to Soria’s Templar past at the Monastery of San Polo and the Monastery of San Juan de Duero, and sits on a free riverside loop with the Hermitage of San Saturio. A literary pilgrimage and a quiet nature walk that costs nothing but the climb.
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Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
The Alameda de Cervantes is Soria's main public park and the green heart of one of Spain's quietest provincial capitals. Locals still call it La Dehesa. It is free, open, and counts among the oldest urban public gardens in the country, with shaded avenues of ancient trees, a small chapel, ornamental fountains, and a music bandstand.
A medieval stone arch in the old town of Soria, a quiet survivor of the city's fortified past, free to walk through. It sits in the historic centre a short walk from Plaza Mayor Soria and the Church of San Juan de Rabanera, so it costs nothing to fold into a wander through one of Spain's least-visited provincial capitals.
A working parish church in the old town of Soria, free to enter and best known for the literary ground that surrounds it. The poet Antonio Machado set down some of his most quoted lines here: his young wife, Leonor Izquierdo, is buried in the Cementerio del Espino beside the church, and the elm in the churchyard is the one read into his poem "A un olmo
A small Romanesque church in central Soria, best known for its richly carved portal, which was salvaged from a demolished church and reset on this facade, and for the Byzantine-influenced apse behind it. Free to enter and one of the city's better examples of 12th-century stonework, it makes an easy free stop on a walk through the old town.
Romanesque church with one of the richest carved facades in Spain, rivalling those in France. Free to enter, and free to admire from the outside, where the sculptural detail alone is worth the stop.
Baroque cave chapel built into the cliff above the Douro, dedicated to San Saturio, the patron saint of Soria. A frescoed octagonal interior and river views reward a free riverside walk, and entry is free for most of the year.
Working out what Soria costs?
The whole of Soria