How many times have you listened about travel stories from some friends of yours who have been in Spain? They always talk to you about the same places: Barcelona, Madrid or Sevilla, for those who love Spanish history or the masterpieces of the greatest Spanish artists, such as Salvador Dalì, or Lloret de Mar for those who are looking for some fun. However, you need to know that Spain is a lot more than that. This peninsula has some of the most beautiful hidden gems all around Europe. We are talking about very small villages, which are characterised by a richness in history more important than the one in bigger metropolis.
The beautiful Palacio Real in Madrid. However, there are a lot of interesting places apart from the most touristic towns. If you do want to travel a little further afield, you can always while away the travel time with different variants of online roulette.
If you are not a native Spanish, probably you have never heard of Valdemoro District. Maybe you read this name during your stay in Madrid, but you have never been so interested to get in a taxi and spent one of your vacation days there. As usual, the fault is in the organised tourism, that push tourists towards the same destinations: if we are talking about Spain it will be Barcelona, if you want to go to Italy, then you’ll have to stay in Rome, etcetera. Lucky for you, today we are talking about one of those little-known places in Spain, where you will be able to feel the real Spanish influence flowing through your veins. Keep reading to know everything about Valdemoro District!
What Is Valdemoro District?
Usually, every town in the world, even the smallest ones, has a specific name which has a meaning. These names, of course, are not comprehensible in our modern language, because we are talking about villages founded centuries ago, using an idiom spoke during that period of time. We think that is very interesting discovering the meaning of the name of a village, because it says a lot about the town itself. This is why we should talk about the origin of the name Valdemoro. There are two different stories about it: the first one is the romantic one and it can says a lot about Valdemoro’s history, while the second one is the pragmatic one and it says about the geography of the village.
In this beautiful photo published by M. Martin Vicente you can see how Valdemoro truly combines the old-ish and the modern-ish.
During the VIII century, Spain was the battlefield that overlooked in the war between indigenous inhabitants and Moors, that were the Muslim inhabitants of Maghreb during the Middle Ages. Throughout the resistance of the indigenous ones, there was a sentence usually repeated by Spanish as a “motto” or “mantra” and it was “En balde, Moro, te cansas”. It was a way to taunt the Muslim enemies and the first part would be so repeated to let it become Valdemoro, as a corruption of those three terms.
A less romantic story recounts that the name came from Valle de Moro, or Valley of the Moors, as this place was called after the Muslim defeat against Christians. It is surely a likely morel tradition, but we are not going to lie on which one we do prefer. However, Valdemoro is a municipal district 27 kilometres far from Madrid, capital of Spain. The area that currently is circumscribed by political bounds of Valdemoro, was inhabited even during the Chalcolithic, so about 5,000 BC! This makes the village one of the eldest in Europe.
Valdemoro suffered a lot in the artistic sector during the Spanish Civil War, and after the death of Francisco Franco (Caudillo of Spain who perpetrated the brutal White Terror) and the restoration of democracy, it became a commuter town.
What Is Valdemoro District Famous For?
Why should you waste your time visiting a village that doesn’t show up in the famous guides written by renowned Tour Operators? If you want to feel the real Spanish influence and to understand how natives truly live, we think that you shouldn’t conclude your Spain trip to Madrid or Barcelona. Of course they are the most beautiful and famous cities in Spain and they are full of life, but they are equally full of tourists, who affect the Spanish lifestyle significantly. Otherwise, you should travel to a little-known place, where the hoards of tourist has not arrived yet, and so you can enjoy the typical Spanish way of life, with its siesta and everything else.
If you want to see all the Valdemoro beauties without travelling there, in this video you will find everything you need!
Valdemoro is particularly famous between natives for more than one reason. It is the ideal destination for both nature and history lovers. If you are in love with natural landscapes, then you need to know that Valdemoro is full of natural sights, such as reserves and green spaces. In this area you will not have to search for a long time until you find a natural reserve where you can have a picnic or just breath the fresh and unpolluted air. History aficionados will find out how Valdemoro is the perfect destination: as we previously mentioned we are talking about a village who has more than 6,000 years of history. There are a lot of archaeological excavations, museum and also wonderful churches built up during the Christian domination period. We will tell you something more specific in the next paragraph.
What To Do In Valdemoro District
As we have already told you, there are a lot of interesting things you can do and see during your stay in Valdemoro. You won’t need a lot of time, so this district can even be a detour during your permanence in Madrid, since they are very close. We promise you that it will be a very delightful detour.
What Spanish people call “la ciudad”, the village, is very small and you will be able to tour it in less than one day. One of those things you can’t avoid to see is the Plaza de la Constituciòn. It is one of the most important squares in Valdemoro and its origin refers to the earliest era of Spanish population. Obviously, hundreds of years ago there were not all those housings around the square, but it was nevertheless used as a public market. Because of all those wars happened in Spain, the square was restaurated more than once, but even today it has that ancien influence.
Talking about the buildings, the most famous one that attracts the small number of tourists is Iglesia Parroquial de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. If your Spanish is a little rusty, then you need to know that we are describing a Christian church. It was built probably in the first part of XVI century, so it has an incredible charm that let it being declared historical and artistic monument in 1981. Therefore it was inscribed in the list of the most important monuments in Spain. It is surely worth a visit!
Here you can see another beauty of Valdemoro. This one is the Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Pilar.
If you need to choose the exact period of the year for your visit in Spain and in Valdemoro, we strongly recommend you to come in May. On the first Sunday after the 3rd of May, in fact, you will be able to enjoy a wonderful festival, which is the Fiesta del Santísimo Cristo de la Salud, which means Festival of the Saint Christ of Health. On this day, the streets are full of people, the most of them are natives and you will find a small number of tourists. You will be able to enjoy beautiful lights, fireworks and it will be the perfect chance to taste some of the famous Spanish street food. What are you waiting for, so? Pack your clothes and get on a plane flying to Madrid!
How To Reach Valdemoro District
Thanks to its closeness to Madrid, Valdemoro District is very easy to reach. You only have to decide how you want to go there.
- If you have your own car, maybe because you are Spanish or only because you rent one during your stay in Spain, you will have to drive on the Nacional VI, the Spanish highway, and if you are travelling from Madrid you will be able to choose between two exits, Valdemoro Zona Industrial and Valdemoro Centro. Obviously we recommend you to choose the second one;
- If you don’t own a car then you will have to choose between travelling by train or by bus. Reaching Valdemoro by train means taking the Cercanias C-3 train line from Madrid. Are you asking yourself how long does it take to go to Valdemoro from Madrid? It is roughly 30 minutes, so don’t worry about wasting your time!
- If you don’t like travelling by train, you will have to choose the bus. We can’t tell you what kind of line you should take for reaching Valdemoro, since we don’t know where is your starting point and your scheduled time. For this reason you may check on the official website of Valdemoro to see the exact bus you will have to get on.