FAMILY ROUTE WITH CHILDREN

In 2010, two cannons were placed in front of the Renaissance-style facade of City Hall to commemorate the bicentennial of Ciudad Rodrigo’s heroic resistance against Napoleon’s troops. You can climb onto them and take a photo of yourself bravely defending the city against its enemies.

In this space, in addition to learning about the fascinating history of Ciudad Rodrigo and its region through various models of castles and fortresses, you can dress up as a soldier and take home an unforgettable souvenir in the form of a photograph.

Our city walls, with a perimeter of two kilometers, can be walked along their entire top so you can plan your defenses against potential enemies. In the area known as “La Brecha Grande,” one of the city’s most heroic defensive battles took place in 1810 against the invading French. At this point, you’ll find cannons similar to those at City Hall, should they be needed.

No adventure of ours would be complete without a very special building where the queens and kings of the house will find a home: The Castle, which has defended the city from enemy attacks since the 14th century. Today it is a Parador National Hotel and welcomes all travelers and visitors who come in peace. Across from it stands the statue of the Verraco, which is now celebrating its 2,800th anniversary or so, and where all the children—both from Ciudad Rodrigo and from out of town—take a souvenir photo.

After so many adventures, what better way to relax than by visiting our most famous parks? Let’s start with La Florida Park. The large grove of trees makes this park a pleasant space where people and nature coexist. The most striking tree is the Giant Sequoia, classified as a unique tree due to its enormous size and age of over 130 years; it was brought here from California. Also noteworthy are a Greek fir—or Kefalonian fir—of exceptional rarity, brought from Greece and over 100 years old; and several Monterey cypresses. The colony of white storks nesting in the treetops is particularly striking, not to mention, of course, the park’s playground.

The nearby Glorieta Park is the next stop on our tour. It is known for its much-loved “Children’s Playground,” which attracts many children from the town and beyond who come to enjoy this special place.Notable among the vegetation are an Atlas cedar over 150 years old, an Aleppo pine, several globe acacias, and a row of chestnut trees. It has traditionally been a venue for shows and concerts, such as those held at the iconic La Glorieta Bandstand.

Glorieta Park is the first stop on this project, which is both scientific and educational, where we can enjoy the unique scale model of the Solar System, the result of a collaboration between various institutions and local residents. We begin with this spectacular representation of the Sun, followed by display cases explaining Mercury, Venus, Earth (along with its moon), and Mars, located at various points throughout the city. To visit the remaining planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto—we must travel to the towns of Ivanrey, Sanjuanejo, Carpio de Azaba, Siega Verde (a World Heritage archaeological site), and Fuentes de Oñoro, respectively. These are towns within our region (remember that this was a scale model).

Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and the one closest to the Sun. Slightly larger than our Moon, it orbits the Sun in just 88 Earth days. It has no moons. Despite being very close to the Sun, it is not the hottest planet (that title goes to Venus, due to its atmosphere). Since Mercury has almost no atmosphere to trap heat, its temperature fluctuates dramatically: During the day, it’s so hot that it could melt lead (up to 430 °C!).At night: With no clouds to trap the heat, everything freezes (temperatures drop as low as -180 °C!).

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and Earth’s closest neighbor. Although it’s very similar in size to Earth, it’s a completely different—and very extreme—place! Here are the most amazing facts about this brilliant planet. It doesn’t have any moons either. Although Mercury is closer to the Sun, Venus is much hotter, because its extremely thick atmosphere is filled with carbon dioxide and acid clouds. As a result, the temperature there is about 465 °C. Its endless days: It rotates so slowly on its axis that a day on Venus lasts longer than a year. It takes 243 Earth days to complete a single rotation on its axis, but only 225 days to orbit the Sun.

Earth is our home, the third planet from the Sun, and the only place in the universe where we know with absolute certainty that life exists. The Blue Planet: It appears this color from space because most of it is water. Satellites: It has only one moon, which we call the Moon (which is also shown here). Earth is a perfect place to live for three magical reasons: It has liquid water: 70% of its surface consists of oceans, seas, and rivers. It has oxygen: The air we breathe protects us and allows us to live. Moderate temperature: It’s not as hot as Venus or as cold as the distant planets. The Earth’s Two Movements Rotation (Day and Night): It spins on its axis like a spinning top. It takes 24 hours to complete one full rotation. Revolution (The Year): It makes a giant orbit around the Sun. It takes 365 days (a full year) to complete this orbit.

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is known as the "Red Planet" because of its rust-colored soil, which resembles rusted metal. It comes after Earth. It is smaller than Earth (almost half its size). It has two very small moons called Phobos and Deimos. Although it looks red and hot, Mars is actually a frozen desert. It is extremely cold, with temperatures dropping as low as -60 °C. It also has giant volcanoes (such as Mount Olympus, the tallest in the solar system) and deep canyons.

The Águeda River is the main permanent watercourse in the Ciudad Rodrigo region, irrigating the fertile Mirobrigense floodplain as it flows through the city, where vegetables have long been grown in small garden plots. Today, it is an ideal area for various sports and recreational activities along the river, especially in the areas of La Pesquera and El Picón, where there are also plenty of playgrounds. The former La Concha Flour Mill, which in recent years has been repurposed as a social and cultural center, is an example of how the river has always been a source of energy. Trees such as alders, ash trees, and poplars line the banks of the Águeda River, which is home to birds such as little egrets, great egrets, mallards, grey wagtails, and kingfishers… along with less common species such as spoonbills and little bitterns. In addition, various types of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals—such as otters—coexist here, along with fish such as barbel and pike.