Ciudad Rodrigo is a small town in Salamanca Province in western Spain.
The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right bank of the River gueda, has been occupied since the Neolithic Age. Known as Mirobriga to the Celtic people known as the Vettones, the town was conquered by the Romans and renamed Augustobriga in honor of Caesar Augustus. In 1110, Count Rodrigo Gonzlez Girn repopulated the site and gave it his name: Civitas Roderici.
Ferdinand II of Len completed the repopulation of the city. He also walled the city and reconstructed the old Roman bridge spanning the River gueda. Ferdinand also re-established the bishopric, an act confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1175. This led to the construction of the citys cathedral, an architectural hybrid of the Gothic and late Romanesque styles.
Its position as a fortified town on the main road from Portugal to Salamanca made it militarily important in the middle years of the Peninsular War. The French under Michel Ney took Ciudad Rodrigo in 1810 after a 24-day siege. Wellington began his 1812 campaign by taking Ciudad Rodrigo by storm on the night of January 19 – January 20, 1812 after preparatory operations lasting about 10 days. Allied losses were relatively light (about 600 casualties; 125 dead). Wellington then moved on Badajoz, whose taking was a much more bloody affair.
Ciudad Rodrigo is the birthplace of Siglo de Oro writer Feliciano de Silva.
Related Travel Information
Ciudad Real is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, the capital of the province of Ciudad Real.
Its population is 65,048 (2002), about an eighth of the population of the province.
The capital was founded by King Alfonso X in the 13th Century to fight against the power of the military order of Calatrava.
Cáceres is the capital of Cáceres province, in Extremadura, Spain. Its population is 88,245 (2004).
There have been settlements near Cáceres since prehistoric times. Evidence of this can be found in the caves of Maltravieso and El Conejar. The city itself was founded by the Romans in 25 BC.
The old town or Ciudad Monumental still has its walls preserved; this part of town is also well known for its multitude of storks' nests. The Universidad de Extremadura is in Cáceres.
Aranjuez is a town in the southern part of Autonomous Community of Madrid in central Spain and is the southernmost, and 48 km south of the city of Madrid. It is located at the confluence of the Tagus and Jarama rivers. The municipality of Aranjuez has a population of 46,891 (2004), 22,897 are males and 23,994 are females. It is also located 48 km from Toledo.
Aranjuez is known for the Palacio Real de Aranjuez, a royal residence, and its vast gardens. The strawberries of Aranjuez are also famous throughout Spain; they are shipped by the carload to Madrid every day
Mataró (Latin Iluro) is the capital of the comarca of Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the Mediterranean Sea. Population 102,018 (1996).
The first railway in Spain was the line Barcelona - Mataró opened in 1848, lead by the Catalan businessman Miquel Biada, born in Mataró.
Jerez de la Frontera is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain.
It is where sherry originated and it is one of the original centres of Flamenco. Frontera refers to its location formerly being on the frontier, or border, between the Moorish and Christian regions of Spain.
It is the home of the Xerez Club Deportivo football team.
Jerez is also home to the motorsport race circuit Circuito Permante de Jerez.
10 km north is the Airport Jerez.
