Avila is located in the Avila province around 35 miles
southwest of Segovia, in the south of the Old Castile region.
Avila is the highest capital in Spain,
built on the flat summit of a rocky hill which rises from a brown,
arid, treeless landscape surrounded by high mountains, the Gredos
Sierra. This means it has an extreme climate, with very hard
and long winters, and short summers. Avila is a World Heritage
Site. Its ancient city walls, constructed of brown granite, have
eighty-six towers, many topped with stork nests, nine gateways
and are still in excellent repair. Behind the walls, a compound
is concealed, made up of Renaissance churches and palaces. Just
inside one gate is the Convent of Saint Teresa with a small church
built over the saint's birthplace.
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