Spain and Portugal for Visitors

One of the larger towns in the Sierra Norte (but still not very large with a population of less than 1,900), Buitrago is known for its castle and, especially its "city" walls. In many ways, it is typical of the area, being historical and charming but run down, having suffered from rural depression and depopulation, and currently trying to promote itself as a rural tourism destination.

As its name says, the Sierra Norte is the northerly part of the Sierra de Madrid, more properly called the Sierra de Guadarrama. It is a beautiful, rural area, attractive both for its landscapes and its lovely, historic villages. The former include the Peñalara Nature Reserve, the highest place in the region of Madrid, climbing to 2,428 metres, and the Hayedo de Montej, an unusually southerly beech forest. Its centres of population are mostly villages and hamlets of mediaeval origin, many with historic churches, monasteries or hermitages, old palaces testifying to more prosperous times, or castles reminding that Madrid is historically part of New Castile. The area has suffered the ravages of rural depression and depopulation, but is undergoing something of a revival with the increasing popularity of rural tourism. The link goes to a commercial website for the Sierra Norte, Spanish-only but otherwise thoroughly admirable, with information on the area's villages and hamlets, maps, hotel and restaurant guides, webcams, articles, events and a forum. If Spain and Portugal had a star rating system, this site would get four out of five, minimum.

Isn't it one of the most delicious names you have ever heard? Torremocha del Jarama is a small (pop. 430) village in the east of the Sierra Norte, its municipality bordering with Guadalajara. It is so rural a place that its biggest attraction is its Museo de Tecnología Agrícola, Farm Machinery Museum.