Alba de Tormes Attractions
The old-world little town of Alba de Tormes, 22km/14mi southeast of Salamanca on a hill on the right bank of the Río Tormes, is one of the most important pilgrimage centers in Spain, in which Santa Teresa of Ávila, who died here in 1582, is revered. In the 16th century Alba de Tormes had eighteen churches, of which only four survive. In the Golden Age the town, as the seat of the Dukes of Alba, was an intellectual and political center which in its heyday had a population of more than 22,000; but when the Dukes moved their residence to Piedrahita in the 18th century Alba de Tormes declined.
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Tomb of Santa Teresa
The Tomb of Santa Teresa rests in the Carmelite convent of the Anunciación.
Castillo de los Duques de Alba
All that remains of the palace of the Dukes of Alba is a massive tower, the Torre de la Armería, which looms darkly over the town.
Museo Arqueológico de San Jerónimo
On the outskirts of the town stands the monastery of San Jerónimo, now housing a small archeological museum (Roman material from the surrounding area).
San Juan
In the Plaza Mayor is the brick-built church of San Juan (12th C.), in Romanesque/Byzantine style, with a Churrigueresque retablo of 1771 and a Romanesque group of the Apostles in the apse.
