What you can see on the Valencia de Alcántara webcam
The council's camera looks across the Plaza de la Constitución, the square in front of the town hall, to the stone flank of the church of La Encarnación, with its heavy buttresses and a large tree beside it. The square is paved in dark and light stones laid in a wave pattern. It plays as a time-lapse of the last 24 hours, which shows the comings and goings of the town centre, from the quiet early morning to the busy evening, at a glance.
The Plaza de la Constitución and La Encarnación
Valencia de Alcántara town council shows this view of the Plaza de la Constitución, the main square, on its own website and shares it on Windy. From a raised position the camera looks across the square to the long stone side of the church of La Encarnación, begun in 1484, with its massive buttresses, a round-arched door and a tiled roof, and a big leafy tree on the right. The paving in front is laid in dark and light stones in a pattern of waves, and parked cars show on the street to the right.
It shows how busy the square is, the stages and lights that go up for the fiestas and the weather in the town. Windy plays it as a time-lapse of the last 24 hours.
A town on the border
The church of La Encarnación was begun in 1484, in a town that was taken and retaken in the wars between Spain and Portugal. In 1497 its other great church, Nuestra Señora de Rocamador, saw the wedding of Isabella, daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, to King Manuel I of Portugal, and the town re-enacts it every August in the Boda Regia festival. In 1762, during the Seven Years' War, it was a British general, John Burgoyne, who led the Portuguese and British force that attacked and captured the town. All around it, 45 dolmens, stone burial chambers from the fourth and third millennia BC, stand in the fields and among the trees.
When to watch Valencia de Alcántara
Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland, but Portugal, a few miles to the west, keeps the same time as Britain: cross the border and the clocks go back an hour. Summers are hot and dry, so the square fills in the evening, when the heat eases. Its busiest days include the San Isidro festival on 15 May and the Boda Regia in August.
Around Valencia de Alcántara
Marvão, a walled Portuguese village on a granite crag, is about 16 miles (26 km) away across the border, and the old town of Cáceres, a World Heritage Site, is about 57 miles (91 km) to the east. The dolmen routes can be followed on foot or by bike from the town.
Getting to Valencia de Alcántara
Lisbon airport is about 153 miles (246 km) away by road and Badajoz about 58 miles (93 km). Madrid is about 254 miles (409 km) to the east.
