Rabé de las Calzadas

The meseta begins in earnest here, and the landscape tells you everything about the people who built these villages. The lack of naturally durable building material — stone is scarce on the plains — means many traditional structures were built from adobe, and centuries of weather have taken their toll. The treasures that once filled these churches have largely been lost to time and neglect.

Rabé has a couple of bars and a fountain. The village is small but maintains a certain stubborn presence on the plain. The name — 'of the causeways' — hints at the Roman roads that once converged here.