Iglesia de la Vera Cruz
While everyone else is queuing for the Alcázar, slip down into the Eresma valley and you'll find a perfectly preserved 12-sided Templar church dating from 1208, standing alone in a field with the castle rising behind it. The Iglesia de la Vera Cruz is one of the most evocative medieval buildings in Spain, and on a quiet weekday morning you may have it entirely to yourself.
History and architecture
Built by the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre (closely linked to the Templars) to house a relic of the True Cross, the church's unusual 12-sided plan imitates the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The interior is austere and dim, with a two-storey circular chamber at its heart where knights once held their secret vigils before initiation ceremonies.
The stonework is Romanesque at its most spare and powerful — no gilded altars or baroque excess, just rough granite, round arches and the faint smell of centuries. A small sacristy displays the original processional cross and some medieval liturgical objects.
The walk there and what's nearby
The most rewarding approach is on foot from the old city: descend through the Jardines de los Poetas, cross the Puente de Sancti Spiritus over the Eresma, and follow the dirt path through poplar groves for about 20 minutes. The church appears suddenly around a bend, framed by the castle above — a view that stops you in your tracks.
Nearby on the same valley road is the Monasterio de El Parral, a 15th-century Hieronymite monastery still occupied by monks. You can visit the Gothic cloister on certain mornings — check locally — and occasionally hear Gregorian chant drifting from the chapel.
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