¿What is a Spanish ‘plaza mayor’? It is the place where everything happens: meetings, bars, cafés, markets, parties, gossip, news, and even archaeological discoveries. We have selected five of the most beautiful, lively, and historic.

1. Vía de la Plata Route: Plaza Mayor of Garrovillas de Alconétar (Cáceres, Extremadura)

The Plaza Mayor of Garrovillas de Alconétar is a delight. All those named here are, of course, but that of this town has a strong symbolic power. Garrovillas is located at the confluence of the Vía de la Plata route and the mythical Tagus River (which runs marshland here), in the heart of the Rural Cáceres, surrounded by dehesas of olive and holm oak trees. It has 2,000 inhabitants and a main square of 4,000 square metres. Is that a lot? Is that a little? We'll illustrate this with a graphic example: the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, the capital of Spain with over 3 million inhabitants, is 10,000 square metres. Take that as read.

On a hypothetical list of the Best rural towns in Spain, The one in Garrovillas would be at the top, and not just because of its dimensions: its appeal lies in the fact that it wasn't designed in an office with a set square and compass, but rather history has shaped it, absorbing architectural trends (Gothic or Mudéjar, to name but two) that passed it by. It began to take shape as such from the 15th century onwards, and its arcades add up to a total of 65 arches. Not all buildings have them. In fact, two of the most important ones (the Town Hall and the Palace of the Counts of Alba de Aliste, now a hotel) do without this generous architectural feature, which offers coolness in summer and shelter in winter.

If you're lucky enough to visit the villa in mid-August, on the 16th, to mark the feast of San Roque, the square becomes Bull-related thing and hosts a centuries-old spectacle (it's been happening since the 17th century) that is pure, genuine, and has an extensive list of rituals and its own vocabulary (ask about the source, the talanqueras, the bidones, or the wooden cage) that must be discovered… and experienced.

• A curiosity To conclude: some of the granite columns from local quarries that support the buildings are deformed as a result of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which was also felt here (and across much of Spain).

2. Paths of Passion: Plaza de España of Écija (Seville, Andalusia)

Don't look for a ‘Plaza Mayor’ on the map of Écija because you won't find one. Look for it by its official name Plaza de España because it is this one that acts (very competently) as the main square and epicentre of the town. Écija is located in the province of Seville, in Andalusia, it is bathed by the waters of the Genil river and has one of Spain's oldest Easter celebrations.

The square is also large, very large (in fact, it's popularly known as ‘The Lounge’) and quite new. Although its layout is a couple of centuries old, its current appearance is the result of a recent renovation that served, among other things, to find a treasure. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's talk about the square first.

In Ecija's ‘Plaza Mayor’, we find the same characteristics as the other sister squares already mentioned. Immediately, a good handful of shady arcades (a necessary luxury in the heart of Andalusia); some bars with terraces; an official building providing order (the town hall) and a large pedestrian area that serves as a place for chat and meeting. It has churches, two in total, each with its own charm:

• The Church of Saint Barbara, It was the first Neoclassical style building erected in Andalusia, which was done after demolishing the previous Gothic-Moorish temple.
• The Church of San Francisco, that is worth observing from a distance to appreciate its beautiful tiled sword.

In 2002, precisely during the renovation works of the square, a buried treasure was found: The Roman sculpture depicting the Wounded Amazon in an excellent state of preservation, practically complete, the only one discovered outside the Roman borders and with some remains of the paint that once covered it, making it a global rarity. The effigy can be seen in the Palace that houses the Municipal Historical Museum. By the way, the Roman fishpond where it appeared is still in place, on the south flank of the square.

3. Emperor Charles V Routes: Plaza Mayor of Cuacos de Yuste (Cáceres, Extremadura)

By this point in the report, we have already learned a few interesting facts about the Major squares of Spain and the twin features that many of them possess. The main beach (or the Spanish one) of Cuacos de Yuste meets some of these criteria (the arcades, the presence of the Town Hall like an altarpiece presiding over a church…) but, of course, it also has unique and non-transferable characteristics.

• The first, the columns supporting its arches are stolen. Or, rather, they are a loan never returned. They belonged to the Yuste Monastery which, after the Mendizabal Disentailment of 1834, was left without monks and abandoned to its fate.
• Then there is its slope, overcome by stairs, which breaks the uniformity of a square that has, this time indeed, a practically perfect rectangular shape. It is one of the largest squares in the region and it is home to houses with elegant wooden balconies; popular dwellings with wooden frames, also, and twisted by the passage of time.

The square is still commercially alive: it still has a grazingin two traditional shops (call them corner shops, call them supermarkets, call them whatever you like) and a coffee. All of them are symptomatic of the fact that, beyond weekend tourism (proximity with the monastery in which Charles V, the greatest emperor in history, died, Cuacos, one of the hearts that pumps visitors, is enjoying a bold present.

This urban centre also serves as the venue for the town's festive calendar: celebrations are held there bullfights in summer; Fancy dress parades and popular sardine festivals during Carnival and verbena popular on Saint John's Eve (From 23 to 24 June).

4. Prehistoric Rock Art Trails: Plaza Mayor of Pedraza (Segovia, Castilla y León)

Pedraza is no secret. Its main square, either. It's rare for the town (or the square) not to appear in a couple of rankings that evaluate The most beautiful places in Spain. It surely occurs because its square does not meet geometric standards (it is neither rectangular, nor square, nor circular but, trapezoidal), nor aesthetic ones (no two buildings are the same and, surely, there are not two columns the same in its arcades either) and it still retains, despite its tourist success, the appearance of a modest Castilian town whose stones have been battered by too many hours of sunshine and too many minutes of cold.

helps to their charm that all commercial signs for your shops and restaurants are made of wood, without exception, or that the very Orson Welles rodaras aquí las escenas de batallas de ‘Midnight Chimes’ (1966). This took place a few decades after the village had become, in the early 20th century, a bohemian haven following its purchase by the painter Ignacio Zuloaga, of the village castle for the modest sum of 13,000 pesetas (although the contract stated 12,999 pesetas to avoid superstitious numerology).

• Not to be missed: Interestingly, just 15 kilometres from this square (one of the most beautiful and sun-drenched in the country) there is a dark, damp shrine that is just as revered as Pedraza. It is known as La Cueva de los Enebralejos, the most important in the Province of Segovia for what it contains (or contained, because many of its pieces are exhibited in museums): figurative cave paintings (the hunter and the deer are the most significant) as well as various geometric motifs which, with designs that appear so modern, it's hard to believe they were made 5000 years ago.

5. Camino del Cid: Plaza Mayor de Siguenza (Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha)

What is so special about the main square in this town in Castile-La Mancha, which has been declared a Historic-Artistic Site? To begin with, the Plaza Mayor in Siguenza is on a slope. It’s not an insurmountable slope, but there are the buildings surrounding it, terraced as best they can to adapt to the uneven terrain. It’s not the only one of its kind in Spain, of course, but there aren’t many others like it either. It is a beautiful Renaissance work dating from the 16th century; consequently, unlike other squares and urban layouts, it is not the result of improvisation and the passage of centuries. Everything here is here because someone planned it that way.

More? Your Cathedral is the most distinguished ‘neighbour’ of the complex: Its foundation stone was laid in the 12th century and the last one, some four hundred years later. As a result, the main square of Siguenza offers more than privileged views of a religious building with a touch of Romanesque, a lot of Gothic and some spectacular elements such as the large rose window or the slender bell tower.

At the other end of the square stands the Town Hall building (unable to compete with the grandeur of the temple, naturally) and, surrounding the entire complex, the arcades, so typical of Spanish urban planning for the reasons we have already mentioned: provide shelter in winter and shade in summer.

Calle Mayor begins at the square which goes up and up (and here the incline is more devilish than in the plaza, without a doubt) until it meets the castle (formerly an Arab alcazaba and today a Parador de Turismo), which is the main reason for the existence of the village: why would a settlement be built on a hill by the Henares river if not to defend a territory?

• The best way to appreciate the square? Take a seat on one of its terraces or on the steps of the town hall at a time of day when the sun isn’t too strong, and take in the view. You’re bound to spot a flock of swallows looking for a nest under the eaves of a building; you might wonder what on earth those holes at the very top of the bell tower are all about Impacts of the Spanish Civil War or make a face as cheerful as that of the sculpture of the Siguenza Youth (another town essential) located just a few metres inside the cathedral.