Very close to the border between Spain and Portugal, Jerez de los Caballeros is a town of 10,000 inhabitants of Badajoz, where white predominates as the color of the town and where several bell towers of various churches stand out and when one enters its streets will discover traces of the order of the Order of the Temple worthy of being visited.
My visit to this wonderful place was about a year ago, in May 2023, and I remember that one of the first things I did when I arrived was to stop at a viewpoint to contemplate the town. But unlike other viewpoints, this viewpoint is on the edge of the village and only shows us the larger towers, hiding one of the jewels in the crown of Jerez, which is the Templar fortress.
Templar Fortress
This Templar Fortress, of Muslim origin, but rebuilt by the Templars in the thirteenth century, allows access to it, but beware, at the door there is an authentic Templar knight protecting the place.
Once inside the fortress, I was delighted to find a large courtyard that ends in some thick walls that serve as a viewpoint to enjoy formidable views of the church of Santa Maria de la Encarnación which is one of the towers that I had seen from the viewpoint located at the bottom of the village.
However, one of the most spectacular places and that at a certain point made my hair stand on end was to visit the entrance of the Tribute Tower.
The reason to make my hair stand on end was to read shortly before visiting it, that it is the tower where the last Knights Templar were beheaded in Spain, and when I took the photo in detail of its interior, I remember that despite the heat I got a good shiver.
But this shiver soon passed as I walked through the garden area of the fortress, where spring was very present with beautiful flowers.
You have reached the other side of the fortress from which I could see much of the village with several towers overhanging and, therefore, would be my next stops on my visit to the village.
Churches and Temples
The churches and temples are another of the great attractions in Jerez de los Caballeros. The most visited and important in the population is that of Santa Catalina, which is the fifteenth century and is a Gothic style building. However, two other churches caught my attention much more.
One of these churches is the Church of San Miguel Arcangel where its very elaborate tower with a multitude of ornaments stands out.
And the one I liked the most of all the churches was the church of San Bartolomé. Which presented a lot of tiles on the outside, forming various images that reminded me of many temples that I visited in the passage in Oporto.
Stroll through its streets and Templar wall.
After finishing my tour of the large churches and towers of the town, I walked through the center of town observing that there was a large number of religious enclosures and images of nuns and various saints. This is something I had not yet experienced in other towns in Spain, but apparently there is a great religious culture in the region.
And it was when walking through the streets that I reached the final point of my visit to the village, discovering the ancient Templar wall that obviously featured a statue of a Templar knight guarding the entrance.
But as a good village of Extremadura, the Iberian pig is one of the typical products and I remember with great pleasure the taste of Iberian ham that I ate at the end of my visit to the village.
I hope that if you have the possibility to visit this little jewel of Spain very little known.
Regards.
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