Theme Week Castile-La Mancha – Guadalajara
Thursday, 24 April 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Calle Mayor © Pavlemadrid/cc-by-sa-2.5
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Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the natural region of
La Alcarria . It is the capital of the
province of Guadalajara . It is located roughly 60 kilometres (37 miles) northeast of
Madrid on the
Henares River , and has a population of 85,000.
The town of Guadalajara was founded by the Andalusians in the 8th century. They named it Wadi-al-Hejara , meaning “Valley of Stones”; in theory the literal translation of the Iberian name (Arriaca ), meaning “Stony River”. The history of the town during the Al-Andalus period was significant. They built monuments including the Moorish Bridge over the Henares River, the now ruined old Alcázar (Arabic for “palace”), and a mosque which later became the Cathedral of St. Mary.
Provincial Govern Palace of Guadalajara © Sonsaz/cc-by-sa-3.0
Nowadays, Guadalajara is involved in urban development plans that are quickly increasing the population of the city. New districts like Aguas Vivas (Live Waters) have recently been inaugurated. Ciudad Valdeluz was planned to increase the number of inhabitants of Guadalajara by 30,000, creating a whole brand new city around the AVE Station (Spanish High-Speed Trains). The recent town-plannings have dramatically increased the cost of the new houses, changing in the last 10 years of being one of the cheapest provinces in Spain for house-buying to be the 3rd province in Spain with most expensive square meter.
The districts of Iriépal, Taracena, Usanos and Valdenoches are small agricultural districts, primarily dependent on the economic activity of Guadalajara and with little historical architecture, usually just a modest medieval or modern church. Thus, in Iriépal there is the Concepción church, constructed in the 16th century, which is known for its Mudejar tower. In Taracena there is the 17th century Church of the Immaculate, in a very simple Renaissance style. In Usanos, there is the 13th century Romanesque church of the Assumption, considerably remodeled in later periods and which features a crenellated tower. Throughout all the villages there are examples of Castilian mansions, quite modest compared to those in the cities. Of note also is Villaflores, a farming village built in 1887, designed by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco and commissioned to Maria Diega Desmaissières.
Here you can find the complete
Overview of all Theme Weeks .
Read more on
Guadalajara ,
spain.info – Guadalajara ,
Journey to the Alcarria and
Wikipedia Guadalajara . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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