Buitrago de Lozoya

About an hour’s drive north from Madrid is the lovely old village of Buitrago de Lozoya, protected by a wall first constructed during the 9th to 11th centuries. Beneath the wall flows the river Lozoya, and there still stands the remains of a castle, supposedly once inhabited by Juana “La Beltraneja” (I’ve been watching the Spanish TV series “Isabel”)
In September every year they hold a big “medieval festival” that sounds like a fun day out.

When I was there I saw a construction crane that doesn’t seem to have moved in quite a while, because storks have colonised it, building their nests amongst the metal frame, as is their custom with anything high up. Stork nests are a common sight throughout rural Spain on the towers of churches and abandoned buildings

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Unexpectedly, the little village also has a Picasso museum, free to enter, featuring a collection of his works that he gave to a friend of his who was from Buitrago, and who in turn donated the pictures to the village on his death.

Little girl to her parents, whilst walking on the wall…