If you travel by car to Salamanca you will pass the small city of Ávila. Surrounded by arguably the best-preserved medieval defensive walls in the world, Ávila is a wonderful sight. These walls date back to the 11th century and still boast 88 small towers. Although myth has it that the city was founded by one of Hercules' sons, the city is identified with and still dominated by Santa Teresa, the sixteenth century writer, monastic reformer and best known of all Spanish mystics.
